the stars and the way
by CookiesCream333
Summary: A story of which a little lost girl fixes herself and finds her path with the help of the stars and way.
1. 180 Degree Turn

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS OR ANY RICK RIODAN STUFF.**

**Word Count: 5,005**

**AN: Read. Enjoy. Review. Be happy. :)**

_"The secret of **change** is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but building the new."_

_-Socrates_

**Chapter 1: A 180 Turn**

_Where Her Life Did A 180 Turn, Spun Out Of Control, Crashed, And Never Recovered_

As her perfect world collasped on top of itself with a single, brutal yet beautiful touch, all she could think was how she had lost her Janus Card from the Holiday expanison deck.

Jazmine di Piante shuffled her cards, antsy.

She sat in the corner of the gym on the gum covered bleachers with her surrogate siblings, Bianca and Nico di Angelo.

Dances are so overrated, she thought as she listened to a blaring Jesse McCartney song.

She heard the older kids milling about the dance for weeks. Tons of preparations, partying supply buying, gossip about who asked who out, and most importantly, who was making the punch.

Now she was here it felt so unnatural. There was some sort of tension. She felt restless and agitated, tapping her foot and drumming her fingers. It felt like something was going to happen. Something was going to happening very soon.

Nico leaned over plucked a random card out of her pile.

"Grover taught me a trick. Wanna see?"

He didn't wait for an answer. He made a great display of brandishing the card in her face before putting his hands behind his back. After a great deal of wriggling, Nico pulled his hands back to the front, and showed his empty hands. Then, he pulled the card out of his mouth.

"Cool!" Jaz said, glad for entertainment. "How'd you do that?"

"A magician never tells his secret." he smiled, making a locking key gesture to his mouth.

She shoved him playfully.

"Unless the magician is borrowing supply from the person asking." she quipped.

"Technically," Nico said, checking the back of it. "It my card. See?"

He showed her the card. It said Nico di Angelo in small, spidery sharpie letters.

"You gave me it when you got a better Hermes card." Jaz said. "So technically, it's mine."

"But you never erased my name off. So technically, it's mine."

"You wrote it in permanent marker!" Jaz yelled. "That's not fair!"

"Too bad."

"Well, that means I get about -um, how many?- _half_ your deck. Remember that time we did that ultimate swap because you wanted to build a new deck?"

"What?" Nico said. "But you didn't write your name on them!"

"I will soon."

Nico snatched one of her cards out of her hand. He pulled a pen out of Bianca's abandoned jacket and scribbled his name on it.

"Ha! Now this is mine!"

"That's the Neptune Roman Deluxe card Bianca gave to me for Christmas! You know hard she looked for that! It never belonged to you!"

"It belongs to me now."

Jaz lunged for the card and tried to pull it out of his hands but his grip was tight.

"It's mine!"

"No! It's mine!"

"NO! MINE! M-I-N-E!"

"Bravo, you learned how to spell!"

"You have dyslexia, too, idiot! Now give me the card!"

"No, give me!"

"Get this in your mind! IT'S. MINE."

"IT'S MI-"

One little card could only take oh-so much. Put it between two fighting ten-year-old, it's a goner.

RIIIIIP!

They fell backwards, one half of a Neptune card in their hands.

Jaz ballooned up with rage. They didn't have a lot of money to start with and Jaz remembered the way Bianca looked so proud when she found the set for her. All that digging through second-hand stores, dusty card shops, all that for Nico to rip it up.

"You-you jerk!" screamed Jaz with the best insult she could think of on the spot.

She shoved him, not enough to hurt him physically but enough to hurt his pride. Nico stumbled backward and fell onto the bleachers, slightly surprised. He got up, his face red and flushed with anger. He slapped her cards to the floor, clawing her hands in the process. Jaz step forward.

"What is going on!?"

Bianca di Angelo stood in front of them, her hands on her hips, expression stern. Three glasses of punch of laid forgotten on the bleachers.

"Um..."

"That is an excellent question Ms. Di Angelo. What _is_ going on?"

Jaz froze and swallowed hard before she looked up to meet the multicolored eyes of her least favorite school administrator, Dr. Thorn.

"We were just playing, sir." Nico said, stepping in for her, using his best apologetic military voice.

Jaz nodded, supportive.

"Likely story." he sneered in his fancy smancy French accent. "You three in the hallway, now."

"Three?" Jaz echoed.

"Three." he confirmed.

She glanced at Bianca. Her flushed, stern face was now gone, replaced with a clammy, pale look of fear. It took an idiot not to realize she was absolutely terrified of being called out. Public humiliation is at the top of her list of fears. Being called out by a teacher was even worse. After everything Banca did for them, it seemed a little unfair for her.

"Sir, Nico and I are at fault, not Bianca. In fact, Bianca was trying to-"

Dr. Thorn cut her off. He grabbed her and Nico's hoods in one hand and yank the collar of Bianca's turtleneck in the other. He dragged them across the gym into the hallway.

"T-t-teachers are not s-suppose to t-touch students!" Bianca gasped, her hands clawing the her collar.

Jaz had a feeling it was more their sake not her own.

With a great push, Dr. Thorn shoved them into the hallway and slammed the door shut, effectively cutting them from the outside world.

He gave them a wicked grin, full of malice.

"Who says I'm a teacher?"

As Jaz's eyes did a double take, he grew taller and bulkier, a muscled body covered in orange fur ripped through the seams of his suit. A long, leathery tail whipped out of nowhere and shot a thorn a few inches near Nico's head.

They yelped in surprised. Bianca clutched Jaz's arm like if it was her lifeline.

Soon, Dr. Thorn transformed into a lethal looking lion with a tail scorpion but, sadly, he kept his snobby, twisted face. A low growl vibrated up his throat while his heterochromatic eyes stared them down. He looked at them hungrily, the way a predator looked right before it caught its prey. The way before...

Jaz felt her heart pulse crazily in her frozen body. She felt cold with shock and fear, the blood pounding in her head. Her mouth was slightly agape. She couldn't breath. Her eyes was wide. Her eyes were seeing it, seeing what was going on but her brain was refusing to registered what just happened.

Jaz saw what Dr. Thorn turned into. What he turned into. She got its card in a musky smelling trade shop three months ago. She memorized its stats two months ago. She beat Bianca in a game with it just a week ago.

Every description match. All the hints added. Everything made sense. From the odd habits to immediate dislikes, it all made sense.

Dr. Thorn was a manticore.

She forced some air into her lungs. A slow wheezing sound escaped lips. She repeated the thought.

Dr. Thorn was a manticore. Dr. Thorn was a manticore. Dr. Thorn was a manticore and he wanted to kill them.

Oh. My. Gosh.

His tail switched and raised, its deadly thorns poised to fire. To fire at them.

Jaz closed her eyes.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

She heard the sound of ripping and a horrible, horrible crushing noise.

Jaz opened her eyes, ready to see some kind of afterlife but she was still standing in the dark, dusty hall of Westover Hall, perfectly, 100 percent alive.

Above her head - above each of their heads- was a thorn narrowly missing them.

"Move or speak and this time I won't miss!" Dr. Thorn hissed.

He morphed back into his human form and pressed his back against the wall, effectively blending into the gloomy walls.

It took a second for her brain to get it.

Even though 'I'm alive' was more important, the only thing Jaz could think of was how Dr. Thorn's supposedly ripped suit miraculously repaired itself.

Almost on cue, the door down the corridor burst open, and an adolescent boy sprinted up to them.

He was a good four inches taller than Bianca and roughly her age. He had a classical, kind of handsome sculpted face with a messy dark hair and bright sea green eyes. Jaz's own green eyes were similar to his but his was a different shape with a more nostalgic, wiser look, and also lacked the dark black rim around his iris that she had. His eyes also portrayed slightly scared but concerned eyes while Jaz was pretty sure hers was showing utter fear.

"My name's Percy. I'm going to take you out of here, get you somewhere safe." he said.

For a second, he looked a bit confused at why they weren't responding.

_Move or speak and this time I won't miss._

Even if she had the permission, Jaz was pretty sure she couldn't speak. Her throat felt clogged as if someone stuffed a ball of hot wax down it. She was ready to scream or gag. Or maybe even both.

Out of the corner was her eye, she saw Dr. Thorn creep up behind Percy, his tail aimed at him.

"Behind y-you!" Bianca squeaked.

She was too late. Just as Percy comprehended what she just said, a thorn lodged itself into his shoulder. Bianca stifled a shriek. He doubled forward and nearly tripped. Out of nowhere, Percy produced a sword and sloppily tried to slashed Dr. Thorn but missed by far.

Dr. Thorn slammed him against the wall.

"Yes, Percy Jackson." he said in his posh French accent. "I know who you are. Thank you for coming out of the gym. I hate middle school dances."

_So do I_, Jaz thought.

Then, it suddenly occurred to her why she didn't just bolt down to the dance to get help while Thorn was preoccupied. The moment she took a step, a thorn impaled itself into the wall half an inch from her face. Dr. Thorn didn't even spare a glance a her. Percy tried to stab Dr. Thorn with his sword again but the only thing he managed to hit was air.

"All four of you will come with me," Dr. Thorn said. "Quietly. Obediently. If you make a single noise, if you call out for help or try to fight, I will show you just how accurately I can throw."

...

Jaz was sure any second now her eyeslids were going to snap off from frostbites.

She heavily trudged through the snow, half processed the words being exchanged. The words swirled and swerved through her brain.

Dr. Thorn's a manticore.

The words seemed muddled and unreal. It was like one of those stupid reality T.V shows and any second now, someone was going to jump out and yell it was all a big prank.

But nothing happening.

Dr. Thorn laughed. "By all means, Son of Poseidon. Jump! There is the sea. Save yourself."

Jaz blinked.

_Son of Poseidon? _

She glanced at Nico, incredulously, but he, too, had a look of bafflement on his face.

"What did he call you?" Bianca muttered, voicing their thoughts.

"I'll explain later," Percy mumbled back.

"You do have a plan, right?"

Percy looked hard in thought as if he was contemplating whether or not to do something stupid. With his eyebrows furrowed and so intense in thought, Jaz had the odd urge to tell him not to hurt himself.

"I would kill you before you ever reached the water," Dr. Thorn said, much to Percy's surprise. "You do not realize who I am, do you?"

Percy scrutinized Dr. Thorn, trying to figure out what he was. His tail flickered back and forward, impatiently as his he was trying to speed up Percy's thought process.

"Unfortunately," Thorn said, "you are wanted alive, if possible. Otherwise you would already be dead."

"Who wants us?" Bianca demanded. "Because if you think you'll get a ransom, you're wrong. We don't have any family. Nico, Jaz, and I..." Her voice broke a little. "We've got no one but each other."

Jaz's heart lurched. Sadly, that was true. Her memories were fuzzy but she never recalled any sort of parental figure in their life. She didn't exactly remember how she met Nico and Bianca -she thought it had something to do with mix-ups and neighbors, she wasn't sure- but the second they met they were stuck like glue. She remembered going to some boarding school in Washington D.C for a while, and after they had a quick trip to this sweet hotel, they moved to Westover Hall. Here they were, getting kidnapped by a mutated lunatic who thought their nonexistent parents were some sort of billionaires.

"Aww," Dr. Thorn said. "Do not worry, little brats. You will be meeting my employer soon enough. Then you will have a brand-new family."

"Luke," Percy said. "You work for Luke."

Jaz could imagine a question mark hovering her head. Luke? The only Luke she knew was the kid in her science class. That kid read sci-fi with his friends and LARPed in free time. He was pretty nice and definitely not a crazy kidnapper.

Dr. Thorn's mouth twisted with distaste when Percy said the name . "You have no idea what is happening, Perseus Jackson. I will let the General enlighten you. You are going to do him a great service tonight. He is looking forward to meeting you."

"The General?" Percy asked. Jaz couldn't help but crack a grin. He said it in a French accent.

"I mean... who's the General?" Percy corrected himself.

Thorn ignored him completely and looked toward the horizon. "Ah, here we are. Your transportation."

Jaz glanced behind her and saw a glow in the distance, a searchlight over the ocean. Then, she heard the chopping of helicopter blades getting louder and closer.

"Where are you taking us?" Nico said.

"You should be honored, my boy. You will have the opportunity to join a great army! Just like that silly game you play with cards and dolls."

Jaz gritted her teeth. She had a nickel every time someone insulted Mythomagic to her face, she'd be able to afford a castle bigger than Westover Hall.

This person -monster or whatever it was- wasn't worthy of knowing the stats of Athena, much less insult the game!

"It's not silly! It's a noble, respected, and brain-challenging art unlike you!" Jaz yelled as Nico said, "They're figurines! And you can take your great army and—"

"Now, now," Dr. Thorn warned. "You will change your mind about joining us, my boy. And if you do not, well... there are other uses for half-bloods. We have many monstrous mouths to feed. The Great Stirring is underway."

"The Great what?" Percy asked.

"The stirring of monsters." Dr. Thorn said, an eerie smile creeping across his face. "The worst of them, the most powerful, are now waking. Monsters that have not been seen in thousands of years. They will cause death and destruction the likes of which mortals have never known. And soon we shall have the most important monster of all—the one that shall bring about the downfall of Olympus!"

"Okay," Bianca whispered to Percy. "He's completely nuts."

"Nuttier than all of Westover's staff member combined." Jaz mumbled under her breath.

"We have to jump into the sea," Percy told Bianca quietly. "Into the sea."

"Oh, super idea. You're completely nuts, too."

Jaz was about to make a remark to Nico about how they were doomed now their 'savior' was more deranged than their so called teachers. She never got the chance.

...

As an invisible force rammed into her, Jaz fell forward and face-planted into the snow. Coughing up something she hoped was snow, she got up, wiping the cold, white substance from her eyes. The moment she cleared the snow from her vision, she instantly wiped them again and blinked twice.

Grover, yes, the kid in Bianca's math class that Nico swore that would grow up to marry an enchilada, was playing a horrendous song on the panpipes. Somehow, plants sprouted and wavered to his music, curling its vines around Dr. Thorn.

At the same time, a goth looking girl clad in black and silver chains, twirled around Dr. Thorn, blocking his thorns with her shield and jabbed him now and then with her long, deadly spear. At one point she turned slightly, long enough for Jaz to catch a glimpse of her shield. She could of swore her heart stopped in fear. It was frightening picture of Medusa plastered on it that raised every hair on her back. She was more than relieved when the girl shifted again, obscuring the view.

Percy, once again, pulled out his bronze sword, looking more dangerous than ever.

Then, a blonde girl appeared out of thin air next to him. Jaz blinked. A girl appeared out of thin air. Not only that, she was wielding a glimmer knife.

What. In. The. World.

"A manticore!" the girl said, confirming Jaz and Nico's suspicion.

All of a sudden, the dimensions flipped. It was no longer, 'Oh my gosh. I'm going crazy. Greek Mythology lives. I'm so scared.' but rather, 'Oh my gosh. I'm not crazy! Greek Mythology lives. AWESOME!' Despite everything going on around them, Jaz felt a little giddy. That's a real live manticore. A-And if a manticore was real, other Greek things were also real. Gods, monster, heroes. Forget going to the Mythomagic convention in Trenton, she could meet a god for Christmas!

Of course, Bianca had to cut through her daydream and be serious.

"Who are you people!?" Bianca demanded. "What is that!?"

"A manticore?" Nico gasped. "He's got three thousand attack power and-"

"-five saving throws!" Jaz butted in.

OhMyGosh. OhMyGosh. OhMyGosh. OH. MY. GOSH. Jaz thought.

Just then, the blonde girl pushed them down. Again. For the second time that day, Jaz choked on mouthful of snow.

Just as Jaz tried to get up again, Bianca pulled her back down.

"What do you think you're doing!?"

"Bianca, there's a battle between a real live monster and real live heroes! I wanna see what's going on!"

_"No. Stay. Down."_

There was something about Bianca's tone the made her falter. Bianca always tried to make Jaz do boring things she didn't want to, like homework and brushing her teeth, but this time, this time was serious. She sounded so firm and so confident but at the same time so scared. It doesn't really make sense but that's how Jaz perceived it. Her voice was strong and loud but yet the scared glint in her eye and panicked undertone in her voice was enough to unnerve Jaz.

Those were the reasons she stayed down.

Bianca shifted and commanded Nico to stay down. Grudgingly, Nico did the same and covered his head. They laid there on the cold ground, letting the snow seep through their coats, arms over their head, listening to the battle.

Judging from the groans, grunts, and the feet scattering and flying off the ground, the fight wasn't the going very well.

Grover and the goth girl already got knocked away. How she knew? Grover wore brown loafers and the girl wore black combat boots, and just a few seconds ago, a pair of loafers and another pair was combat boots flew off the ground and landed in a snow pile in different directions, accompanied by very loud, very audible groans.

Percy and the blonde girl -Percy favored blue sneakers while she had a pair of gray tennis shoes- were shuffling around, jabbing Dr. Thorn with their various weapons.

She could distinguish Dr. Thorn from the rest very easily. Instead of shoes he sported four huge orange paws.

A spotlight suddenly shined down on them with the sound helicopter blades.

Jaz blinked. She didn't know helicopter were mythical.

She heard someone yell a "No!" and Dr. Thorn let out sinister chuckle before saying something inaudible.

Then, a loud, clear noise echoed through the forest. The sound of a hunting horn.

...

After that, Nico had to fill her in on everything. She remembered seeing bits and pieces pf the action but not much. A bunch of silver clad girls emerged from the forest, joined in, turned the helicopter in ravens, then, Thorn jumped off the cliff with the blonde girl on his back, trying to strangle him.

Yeah.

Bianca finally let them get up -at this point, her limbs were numb from cold or sore, she didn't know- and approached the group.

The one called Zoe suddenly stopped when she saw the goth girl.

"You," she said, her nose wrinkling in distaste.

"Zoe Nightshade." the girl's voice trembled with anger. "Perfect timing, as usual."

Zoe scanned the rest of them, her eyes seemed to x-ray through Jaz as if reading her thoughts and very being.

"Four half-bloods and a satyr, my lady."

Her accent was hard to place. British? Italian?

"Yes," the younger girl said. "Some of Chiron's campers, I see."

"Annabeth!" Percy yelled. His voice sounded broken and desperate. No, not just broken... _Heart_broken. "You have to let us save her!"

The auburn-haired girl turned toward him. "I'm sorry, Percy Jackson, but your friend is beyond help."

Percy tried to struggle to his feet, but a couple of girls held him down.

"You are in no condition to be hurling yourself off cliffs," the auburn-haired girl said.

"Let me go!" Percy shouted, struggling against their grips. "Who do you think you are?"

Zoe stepped forward as if to slapped him.

"No," the other girl ordered. "I sense no disrespect, Zoe. He is simply distraught. He does not understand."

The young girl looked at him, her eyes colder and brighter than the winter moon. "I am Artemis," she said. "Goddess of the Hunt."

If she wasn't as shocked as him, Jaz would of laughed at his dumbfounded expression.

She felt the crushing weight of shock and giddiness numb her to the bone. She felt her heart stop for second, then powered back up, and started working harder and faster than ever before.

She always imagined Artemis as some sort of tall, cool 15 year old, not Bianca's age. But then again, she didn't expect herself to be caught in a mythological battle.

Grover looked like just had a heart attack while eating several pounds of sugar covered enchiladas. He gasped before dropping to his knees, stammering, "Thank you, Lady Artemis! You're so... you're so... Wow!"

"Get up, goat boy!" the goth girl said, irritably. "We have other things to worry about. Annabeth is gone!"

"Whoa," Bianca said. Jaz suddenly realized that they were actually here in the snow, not just watching some movie. "Hold up. Time out."

Everybody looked at her. She pointed her finger at all of them in turn, with some sort of scared, desperate act of connecting the dots. "Who... who are you people?"

Artemis's expression softened."It might be a better question, my dear girl, to ask who are you! Who are your parents?"

Bianca glanced nervously at Jaz and Nico. Nico was still staring at Artemis like she was the greatest thing next to Mythomagic. Which she was but still, Jaz really wanted Nico to snap out of it. The way Artemis was looked at them was like if she was implying they were...like if she was implying they were...like them.

"Our parents are dead," Bianca said, speaking up for Jaz and Nico. "We're orphans. There's a bank trust that pays for our school, but..."

She faltered. One look at their faces was enough to know they didn't believe a single thing that was coming out of her mouth. Not for a second.

"What?" she said, defensively. "I'm telling the truth."

"You are a half-blood," Zoe Nightshade said. "One of thy parents was mortal. The other was an Olympian."

"An Olympian... athlete?"

"No," Zoe said. "One of the gods."

For ten seconds -count it, it's longer than you think- it was absolutely quiet.

The girls plus Grover and Percy were feeling sympathetic for them, Bianca was shocked gods existed, and Jaz and Nico was shocked with glee gods existed.

"Cool!" said Nico.

Leave it to him to break the silence.

"No!" Bianca's voice quavered. "This is not cool!"

Nico danced his Mythomagic dance as Jaz dubbed it. "Does Zeus really have lightning bolts that do six hundred damage? Does he get extra movement points for his defences against Titans?"

"Does his army of pegas with him an extra hundred defense points!?" Jaz interjected as they both of them pelted the group with questions.

"Guys, shut up!" Bianca put her hands to her face. "This is not your stupid Mythomagic game, okay? There are no gods!"

Jaz reeled back, half in hurt and half in surprise."

"Bianca, I know it's hard to believe. But the gods are still around. Trust me. They're immortal. And whenever they have kids with regular humans, kids like us, well... Our lives are dangerous." the goth girl said.

"Dangerous," Bianca said, insensitively, "like how Annabeth fell."

The girl turned away. Even Artemis looked pained.

"Do not despair for Annabeth," the goddess stated. "She was a brave maiden. If she can be found, I shall find her."

"Then why won't you let us go look for her?" Percy questioned.

"She is gone. Can't you sense it, Son of Poseidon? Some magic is at work. I do not know exactly how or why, but your friend has vanished."

"Oo!" Nico raised his hand, recovering very quickly from Bianca's outburst. "What about Dr. Thorn? That was awesome how you shot him with arrows! Is he dead?"

"He was a manticore," Artemis said. "Hopefully he is destroyed for now, but monsters never truly die. They re-form over and over again, and they must be hunted whenever they reappear."

"Or they'll hunt us," the goth girl spoke up.

Bianca shivered. "That explains... Guys, you remember last summer, those guys who tried to attack us in the alley in DC?"

"And that bus driver," Nico said. "The one with the ram's horns. I told you that was real."

"He even had hooves." Jaz added.

"That's why Grover has been watching you," Percy said. "To keep you safe, if you turned out to be half-bloods."

"Grover?" Bianca stared at him. "You're a demigod?"

"Well, a satyr, actually." He kicked off his shoes and displayed his goat hooves.

Jaz's jaws dropped. A satyr! All that time she's been hanging out of a person practically straight out of a Greek text-book! Grover's a satyr!

"Cool!" she squeaked.

Bianca's face turned pale -well, paler- and for a second Jaz thought she would have to rush forward to catch her when she fainted.

"Grover, put your shoes back on," the goth girl said. "You're freaking her out."

"Hey, my hooves are clean!"

"Bianca," Percy said, "we came here to help you. You and Nico need training to survive. Dr. Thorn won't be the last monster you meet. You need to come to camp."

"Camp?" she asked.

"Camp Half-Blood," Percy said. "It's where half-bloods learn to survive and stuff. You can join us, stay there year-round if you like."

She could imagine it now. Her running through the forest, cutting down every monster in her path and saving everyone from evil! Jaz the Monster Slayer! Jaz the Bringer of Justice! Jaz the Hero!

"Cool!" Jaz said again.

"Sweet, let's go!" said Nico.

"Wait," Bianca shook her head. "I don't—"

"There is another option," Zoe said.

"No, there isn't!" the goth girl snapped.

The girls glared at each other.

"We've burdened these children enough," Artemis announced. "Zoe, we will rest here for a few hours. Raise the tents. Treat the wounded. Retrieve our guests' belongings from the school."

"Yes, my lady."

"And, Bianca, Jaz, come with me. I would like to speak with you."

Speak with me? Jaz thought nervously, her joy shifting into anxitey in her stomach. What have I done wrong? I only met her two minutes ago.

"What about me?" Nico asked.

Artemis looked at Nico thoughtfully. "Perhaps you can show Grover how to play that card game you enjoy. I'm sure Grover would be happy to entertain you for a while... as a favor to me?"

Grover looked like it was enchilada day in the cafeteria. Which meant he lighted up brighter than the sun. "You bet! Come on, Nico!"

Boys.

"What do you think Artemis wants to talk to us about?" Jaz whispered to Bianca as they trailed after the goddess.

"I don't know." Bianca replied. "She doesn't seem angry with us, though."

"Gods are unpredictable."

"I know, Jaz. We'll watch each other's back, okay?"

"Of course."

Only if Jaz knew that this was the last moment of clarity with Bianca she'd ever have.


	2. Not When, if

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS!**

**Word Count: 5,060**

**AN: Read. Enjoy. Review. Be Happy. :)**

_Waiting hurts. Forgetting hurts. But not knowing what **decision** to take can sometimes be the most painful._

_-Paolo Coelho_

**CHAPTER 2: NOT WHEN, IF**

_In Which Afterwards Jaz Never Looks At Bianca_ _The Same_

"A huntress." she said in disbelief.

An hour ago, Jaz could not even dream that sixty minutes _later_ a goddess will be giving her a life changing offer.

She could be a _hunter._

A handmaiden of Artemis, goddess of the moon.

Young and wild, forever.

Hunting down beast with girls along side her.

She would be eternal. Happy with friends that would never leave her.

Eternal.

God, they were so lucky.

No, God**_s_**, they were so lucky.

The goddess said, "I will give you two some time to think about it."

Her expression turned a bit more serious.

"When one becomes a Huntress there is no second thoughts, so think wisely. Meanwhile, we must discuss other matters."

Right on cue, there was a tap on the tent.

"Join us, Percy Jackson," Artemis said.

Percy sat across from Artemis on the tent floor. He shifted uncomfortably under her stare. Jaz seen many hormonal girls goggling at 'hot' boys before but Artemis showed no sign of goggling or drooling over 'hotness'. She was simply _examining_ him.

"Are you surprised by my age?" she asked.

"Uh... a little." he said.

"I could appear as a grown woman, or a blazing fire, or anything else I want, but this is what I prefer. This is the average age of my Hunters, and all young maidens for whom I am patron, before they go astray."

"Go astray?" Percy asked.

Jaz mentally raised an eyebrow. She thought Percy already knew what the Hunters were all about.

"Grow up. Become smitten with boys. Become silly, preoccupied, insecure. Forget themselves."

"Oh."

Yes, 'oh'. 'Oh' sums everything up.

Jaz always thought boys weren't that bad and they managed to surprised her in a good way once in a while but while in the presence of an anti-boy goddess, she decided to keep that little thought to herself. Besides, every now and then she wished the male population could just disappear. They could be _so_ annoying.

Zoe sat down at Artemis's right. She flashed Jaz a tiny smile as if she could read her thoughts.

"You must forgive my Hunters if they do not welcome you," Artemis said. "It is very rare that we would have boys in this camp. Boys are usually forbidden to have any contact with the Hunters. The last one to see this camp..." She glanced at Zoe. "Which one was it?"

"That boy in Colorado," Zoe said. "You turned him into jackalope."

"Ah, yes." Artemis nodded, the corners of her mouth turn up ever so slightly. "I enjoy making jackalopes. At any rate, Percy, I've asked you here so that you might tell me more of the manticore. Bianca and Jazmine have reported some of the... mmm, disturbing things the monster said. But they may not have understood them. I'd like to hear them from you."

And so he told her.

When Percy was done, Artemis put her hand thoughtfully on her silver bow. "I feared this was the answer."

Zoe leaned forward. "The scent, my lady?"

"Yes."

"What scent?" Percy questioned.

"Things are stirring that I have not hunted in millennia," Artemis murmured. "Prey so old I have nearly forgotten."

She stared at him intently. "We came here tonight sensing the manticore, but he was not the one I seek. Tell me again, exactly what Dr. Thorn said."

"Um, 'I hate middle school dances.'"

Jaz cracked a small grin. The one thing she and a couple millenniums year old Greek monster have in common.

"No, no. After that."

"He said somebody called the General was going to explain things to me."

Zoe's face paled. She turned to Artemis and started to say something, but Artemis raised her hand.

"Go on, Percy," the goddess said.

"Well, then Thorn was talking about the Great Stir Pot—"

"Stirring," Bianca corrected.

"Yeah. And he said, 'Soon we shall have the most important monster of all—the one that shall bring about the downfall of Olympus.'"

The goddess was so still she could've been a statue.

"Maybe he was lying," Percy said.

_Or maybe he wasn't. Jaz thought._

Artemis shook her head. "No. He was not. I've been too slow to see the signs. I must hunt this monster."

For a split second, Zoe's face morphed into a look of fear, but the second Percy looked at her, she smoothed out her features and nodded to Artemis. "We will leave right away, my lady."

"No, Zoe. I must do this alone."

"But, Artemis—"

"This task is too dangerous even for the Hunters. You know where I must start my search. You cannot go there with me."

"As... as you wish, my lady." said Zoe, sounding like this simply act took all her willpower.

I will find this creature," Artemis said, determinedly. "And I shall bring it back to Olympus by winter solstice. It will be all the proof I need to convince the Council of the Gods of how much danger we are in."

"You know what the monster is?" Percy asked.

Artemis gripped her bow, the knuckes of her fist turning white. "Let us pray I am wrong."

"Can goddesses pray?" Percy asked.

_**Can** goddesses pray? _Jaz thought._ Who do they pray to?_

A flicker of a smile played across Artemis's lips. "Before I go, Percy Jackson, I have a small task for you."

"Does it involve getting turned into a jackalope?"

"Sadly, no. I want you to escort the Hunters back to Camp Half-Blood. They can stay there in safety until I return."

"What?" Zoe blurted out. "But, Artemis, we hate that place. The last time we stayed there—"

"Yes, I know," Artemis said. "But I'm sure Dionysus will not hold a grudge just because of a little, ah, misunderstanding. It's your right to use Cabin Eight whenever you are in need. Besides, I hear they rebuilt the cabins you burned down."

_Burned down?_ Jaz thought.

Zoe muttered something about foolish campers.

"And now there is one last decision to make." Artemis turned to Bianca and Jaz. "Have you made up your mind, my girls?"

Bianca and Jaz hesitated.

"I'm still thinking about it." Bianca said as Jaz said, "I'm not sure, Lady Artemis."

"Wait," Percy said, suddenly, full of confusion. "Thinking about what?"

"They... they've invited me-_us_ to join the Hunt." Bianca said.

"What?" Percy said, his eyes popping open like as if they just announced they were running over his puppy over with a monster truck. "But you can't! You have to come to Camp Half-Blood so Chiron can train you. It's the only way you can learn to survive."

"It is not the only way for a girl," Zoe said.

Percy looked so flabbergasted it was funny and hurtful at the same time.

"Camp is cool! It's got a pegasus stable and a sword-fighting arena and... I mean, what do you get by joining the Hunters?"

"To begin with," Zoe said, "immortality."

Percy's eyes doubled its size as he gaped at Zoe, then at Artemis. "She's kidding, right?"

"Zoe rarely kids about anything," Artemis said. "My Hunters follow me on my adventures. They are my maidservants, my companions, my sisters-in-arms. Once they swear loyalty to me, they are indeed immortal... unless they fall in battle, which is unlikely. Or break their oath."

"What oath?" he said.

"To foreswear romantic love forever," Artemis said. "To never grow up, never get married. To be a maiden eternally."

"Like you?"

Artemis nodded.

The features on his face portray absoulute, utter dumbfound.

"So you just go around the country recruiting half-bloods—" he said.

"Not just half-bloods," Zoe interrupted. "Lady Artemis does not discriminate by birth. All who honor the goddess may join. Half-bloods, nymphs, mortals—"

"Which are you, then?"

Zoe's eyes, which were already cold to him, turned icy. "That is not thy concern, boy. The point is Bianca and Jazmine may join if they wish. It is their choice."

"This is crazy," Percy said. "What about your brother? Nico can't be a Hunter."

Jaz snickered. The thought of Nico prancing around in a silver parka and shooting arrows into the sunset was hilarious.

Then, she stopped, abruptly.

Nico.

Nico di Angelo.

Nico, her best friend.

Nico, who she would abandon if she joined.

Oh my.

"Certainly not," Artemis agreed. "He will go to camp. Unfortunately, that's the best boys can do."

"Hey!" Percy protested.

"You can see him from time to time," Artemis assured them. "But you will be free of responsibility. He will have the camp counselors to take care of him. And you will have a new family. Us."

"A new family," Bianca repeated dreamily. "Free of responsibility."

But Jaz wasn't feeling so dreamy anymore. The thought Nico brought up other thoughts. Other things she forgot in this moment.

She remembered the boys in her life. Boys who only snuck around long enough for her to catch a glimpse and boys who stuck to her for nearly her entire life. Guys she kid around with. Guys she played with, grew up with, pranked with. Not all of them were too terrible. They were actually pretty cool.

Then, she remembered something even more important. Times she squeal when she grew half an inch. Times she wished to go to high school. To go to college. To get a job. To grow up.

"Bianca, you can't do this," Percy said, desperately. "It's nuts."

She looked at Zoe. "Is it worth it?"

Zoe nodded. "It is."

"What do I have to do?"

"Say this," Zoe told her, " 'I pledge myself to the goddess Artemis.'"

"I... I pledge myself to the goddess Artemis."

"'I turn my back on the company of men, accept eternal maidenhood, and join the Hunt.'"

Bianca repeated the lines. "That's it?"

Zoe nodded. "If Lady Artemis accepts thy pledge, then it is binding."

"I accept it," Artemis said.

The fire in the center of the tent, grew bigger and stronger, casting a silver light over the room. She took a deep breath and opened her eyes but even though she looked the same, she said, "I feel... stronger."

"Welcome, sister," Zoe said.

"Remember your pledge," Artemis said. "It is now your life."

During all that, Jaz couldn't even utter a word.

Bianca was a huntress.

Then, everyone turned to look at her.

"Jazmine?" Artemis questioned.

For split second, it seemed as if all the good and bad things that boys ever done to her ran through her mind. All the jelly filled shoe pranks, snickering about random things, food fights, everything. All the milestones of life she'll never accomplish? Never leave the Hunt. Never grow. Never change. Is it worth it for eternal maidenship?

Jaz took a deep breath.

"I'm sorry." she said.

Emotions flashed across their companions' faces. Bianca and Zoe were throughly confused, Percy had a smidgen of hope in his eyes, while Artemis's features were completely wiped of feelings.

"I really want to. I really do want to join the hunt but..." she faltered for a second before starting again. "I really do want to join the hunt but at the same time I really don't. It's sounds so cool to stay the same age forever, traveling the world, doing good under the service of a goddess. At the same time, I want to know what it's like to grow. Grow taller, grow up. Also, boys never done anything wrong to me. You say they are horrible beings but I want to figure out for myself. I appreciate your offer but I'm not sure I'm ready for this. I'm not sure I'm old enough for this. There are things I'm looking forward to in life and I'm not sure if I'm ready to give it up. I'm sorry. I'm sorry."

Jaz took a deep, shaky breath and tried to blink the growing tears out her eyes. She felt sick but there was this tiny feeling in her that felt so strong and confident in her desicion. Too bad the rest of her didn't think so.

For a second, it absolutely silent in the tent.

Artemis gave a little sigh.

"Do not worry." Artemis said. "I sense you are a strong, talented maiden with a good sense of feminism. Just a young one. Young, inexperienced, and nätive."

The goddess didn't sound like she was insulting her. She was just stating the cold, honest truth.

It still hurt, though.

Artemis pulled a silver card out of who-knows-where and handed to her. Jaz tentively took it and stared at it.

"Whenever you change your mind and realize your potential, you may join the hunt."

Jaz carefully folded the shimmering card and tucked it into her pants pocket. It burned.

"Do not celebrate too much, Percy Jackson," Artemis said. "You will get to show the di Angelos and Jazmine your camp. Bianca will not stay but if Nico and Jaz choose, they can stay there. Just remember, Jazmine is still allowed to join. Do not get your hopes up."

"Great," Percy said, not sure if he should should pleased or sad. "How are we supposed to get there?"

Artemis closed her eyes. "Dawn is approaching. Zoe, break camp. You must get to Long Island quickly and safely. I shall summon a ride from my brother."

Zoe didn't look all that excited, but she nodded and told Bianca to follow her. As she was leaving, Bianca glanced at Jaz and raised an eyebrow which definitely meant they were going to talk later.

Then, she paused in front of Percy. "I'm sorry, Percy. But I want this. I really, really do."

When they both were gone, Jaz and Percy were left alone with the twelve-year-old goddess.

"So," Percy said, glumly. "We're going to get a ride from your brother, huh?"

Artemis's silver eyes gleamed. "Yes, boy. You see, Bianca di Angelo is not the only one with an annoying brother. It's time for you to meet my irresponsible twin, Apollo."

...

The moment Artemis dismissed them, Jaz ran out of the tent and followed Bianca like a bullet.

"An eternal maiden, huh?" Jaz panted as she reached Bianca. She wanted to keep this light-hearted as possible as if the real situation wasn't that Bianca was an immortal huntress and Jaz wasn't. "I didn't even get to beat up your first boyfriend yet!"

"Jaz, no jokes." Bianca said.

So much for lighthearted.

"Why did you say no? We could have been sisters."

"I thought we are sisters." Jaz said, trying to disguise her hurt.

"I-I know," Bianca said. "But here we could been sisters, like sisters of blood."

"You said sisterhood didn't matter whether or not we're related by blood."

Jaz tried hard to keep her voice even but she couldn't keep the accusing tone out of her voice.

"Just-just-," Bianca sighed and rubbed her head. "Nevermind about that. That's okay if you don't join now. In a couple years when you join, it won't matter."

"When?" Jaz echoed. "You mean _if_ I join, right?"

Bianca raised her eyebrow slightly.

"Yeah, if." she said, her voice sounding hollow. "I just don't want to make it harder on Nico. You spend years, assuring Nico you'll never leave, then you just leave? That will hurt him a lot more than you think."

"If, Bianca, if." Jaz said, her gradually getting louder. "Besides, you spent years telling Nico you'll never leave, then you abandon him at first chance!? Bianca, you are hurting him!"

Bianca just shook her head, sadly. "Not as much as you."

Nico finally spotted them and started waving ferociously. A large grin was stretched across his face. A large grin Jaz knew would be gone in a few minutes.

"You should talk to Nico." she said.

"I was planning to."

The older girl walked away without another word.

She watched as Bianca's mouth formed words. Slow, disappointing words. Nico's gleeful face grew glum and sad. His shoulders sagged and his posture sunk. His mouth moved and Bianca shook her head. She started to use her hands as she talked. Jaz saw Nico's lips formed her own name. Bianca, once again, shook her head and started explaining. Jaz could already see her using _when_ instead or _if_.

"If, Bianca, if." Jaz whispered. "If."

...

Even before the car started moving, Jaz thought she was going to throw up.

Just before she before she boarded the shuttle with Thalia -Thalia had an immediate liking to her since she declined the Hunt. She decided to keep the silver card in her pocket a secret- Nico pulled her aside and gave her a bear hug.

Truth be told, she was ready to start bawling. If Nico wanted to, too, he didn't show. He plastered a goofy grin on his face and started yammering about how how Apollo and his 'chariot' wasn't like anything he thought it would be. Jaz felt the sickness overtake her. How well did Bianca explain the whole immortally thing? Did Nico know Bianca was gone? Did he really know that Bianca would stay forever young while he withered away? It was either Bianca didn't explain the situation well or Nico was just putting up a happy facade. Watching him talk and smile like nothing ever happened, made her feel compelled to make sure it stayed that way.

He looks so happy. She thought. I can't ruin it.

She glanced at Apollo's car where Bianca and the Hunters were boarding.

Bianca doesn't exist. Bianca doesn't exist. She chanted to herself. In fact, who is Bianca?

Jaz smiled and let her happy, carefree side take over. Besides, Apollo's car is sweet. It's hard not to go crazy over it.

...

"Can I drive?" Nico asked.

"No, too young." Apollo said.

"How about me?" Jaz pleaded. "I'm two weeks older than him!"

"Nearly two weeks!" Nico cut in before Apollo said, "It's practically the same thing."

"But if you combine his age with my age we'll be twenty. That means we both can drive!"

Apollo grinned. "I like your reasoning skills, kid. But nah, too young."

Jaz sighed, huffily as Apollo's eyes shifted over to a certain daughter daughter of Zeus.

"Ah!" he cried out. "Zeus's girl! What better person to navigate the skies!"

...

After the car stopped -crashed- and the nymphs pushed the bus to shore, Jaz bugged Apollo for an autograph while Nico gaped at the camp.

"Is that a climbing wall?"

"Yeah." Percy said.

"Why is there lava pouring down it?"

"A little extra challenge-"

"Swe-e-et!" Jaz sang to Nico. "I say we do that first, then we hit the pegasus stables-"

"Nononononono." Nico interrupted. "We are not doing pegasus stables. We are keeping our feet firm on the ground!"

"But when we do the climbing wall, we won't be touching the ground."

"That's different."

"How so?"

"Fine. If we do pegasus stables the we'll have to do canoeing."

Check.

"Which is in the lake."

And mate.

Nico smiled smugly as Jaz half-heartedly glared at him. Jaz had an aversion to the water just as Nico had one to the sky.

"Fine." she said, grudgingly. "But we have to check out the track. It looks totally awesome! There's a-"

Someone pulled on her braid. Jaz whirled around, ready to give them a death glare and a yelling. No one does that except Nico and...

Bianca.

"Oh." Jaz said. Much to Bianca's displeasure, Jaz's smile withered off her face. "Hi."

"Do you two want to hang out later? I can introduce you to the other huntresses." she said, smiling.

Jaz opened her mouth to decline but Nico scowl darkly and pulled her away.

"The nerve of her. 'Hi,'" Nico said in a high-pitched voice. "'Even though I just abandoned you, you want to hang out? I can rub my new family in your face if you want!'"

"She probably didn't mean it like that." Jaz said, softly. If she had joined the Hunt, Jaz had this hinting feeling she would have said the same thing as Bianca.

Nico scowled and walked faster to catch up with Percy, leaving her behind.

She wonder how he'll feel when she told him about a certain silver card in her pocket.

...

"Orientation film? Is it G or PG because Bianca is strict-"

"It's PG-13."

"Cool!"

"Sweet!"

...

Jaz bounced out of the Big House, buzzing with energy.

"SO COOL!" Nico yelled, holding his hands out to Chiron. "You're... you're a centaur!"

"A horse-man!" Jaz added. "Do you let people ride you!? Do you take afternoon stroll!? Do you like apple!? How about-"

She gasped, interrupting herself.

"You met the Gods! So cool!"

She jumped up and down, squealing.

Chiron managed a nervous smile. "Yes, children, if you please. Though, I prefer to stay in human form in this wheelchair for, ah, first encounters."

"And, whoa!" Nico wheeled around to look at Mr. D. "You're the wine dude? No way!"

Mr. D turned his eyes away from his stare down with Percy and gave Nico a look of loathing. "The wine dude?"

"Dionysus, right? Oh, wow! Jaz and I have your figurine."

"My figurine."

"In my game, Mythomagic. And a holofoil card, too! And even though you've only got like five hundred attack points and everybody thinks you're the lamest god card, I totally think your powers are sweet!"

Jaz's head bobbled up and down in agreement.

"One time," she said. "We made a monument of you out of grapes in the cafeteria. Of course, George has to kick it over... But I have the stain on my shoe!"

"Ah." Mr. D said. He had a look on his face Jaz coudn't quite place. "That's... gratifying."

Jaz beamed at him and started telling him about the time she collected five of his cards in one day, and built a tiny card house with it, which she called the Temple Of Grapes, and then...

At one point, Thalia and Percy left but she barely noticed. She had pulled out a paper and pencil from the backpack the Hunters packed her and started draw what it looked liked.

A few minutes after Thalia and Percy left, two tall mishevious boys flounced up to the porch.

"Hey, Chiron." One of the boys said. "These the new campers?"

"That is correct, Connor." Chiron said. "I trust you and Travis won't pull Mr. di Angelo and Ms. Marcelo into your shenanigans while you're on the tour?"

"Yes, sir!" Travis saluted.

"Never, sir!" Connor said, shooting a not-so convincing thousand watt smile to Chiron.

"Ooo! Oo!" Nico said. "Can we go to climbing wall!"

"Please!"

Travis laughed. "Of course, kiddos, but first on the list is the Hermes Cabin."

"The Hermes Cabin?"

Just as they were leaving something clicked in Jaz's mind. Something Chiron said.

"Wait." she said, turning around to face him. "You said 'Ms. Marcelo'. My last name's di Piante."

For second, Chiron looked taken back.

"Oh." he said, before regaining his composure. "You reminded me of a girl I once knew. I assure you, it was just a slip of the tongue."

...

"So, how do you like Camp Half-Blood?" Travis -or was it Connor?- said as they concluded the tour.

"Like it!?" Jaz exclaimed as her voice rose to a squeak. "I love it!"

"It's so cool!" Nico yelled. "When do we go to train!? Do we get to go to the woods!? Where do we have-"

"Whoa. Whoa. Whoa. Whoa." Conner -she was sure it was him this time- interrupted. "All your questions will be answered throughout the day. For now, we need to get you settled in the Hermes cabin. We better hurry, lunch is in a few minutes. Lets go!"

They ran across camp in less than three minutes, the entire way Conner muttering about shortages of peanut M&amp;Ms.

They burst in the Hermes Cabin -it was a lot more cramped than Jaz expected- dropped their belongs (their backpacks) while Travis and Conner quickly named everyone in the cabin. She caught less than half the names and connected almost none with their faces.

Two minutes later, they were seated at the Hermes table, listening to the Stoll brothers explain their card game.

"Wait, wait, wait," Jaz said. "So whoever gets the highest numbers wins?"

"Yes." Travis said. "That's how poker works."

"But," Connor added. "They also gets everything the bidders betted."

"So you bet Mythomagic cards?" Nico asked.

Connor said, "No, you bet money."

"How is money better than Mythomagic cards?"

"Money is..."

"Oh!" Jaz said in realization. "You use the money to buy Mythomagic cards!"

"No, no, no, you..."

...

SWORD ARENA

"Your stance is too shaky." Their instructor scolded Jaz. "Your legs are too close together, widen up. And square your shoulder!"

She obliged.

"I feel weird. Are you sure I'm suppose to look like this?" she asked.

"Positive. Now adjust your grip so..."

The rest she heard was blah, blah, blah.

"When do we start slicing people up?" she asked, innocently.

Her instructor's eyes widened before saying, "Learning the art sword is for the pure self-defense and a way to get in touch with..."

Blah, blah, blah.

Jaz sighed.

"I'm guessing that's not soon?"

...

ARCHERY

She let go of the arrow, letting it fly into the outer rim of the white stripe just outside the bulleyes eye. Jaz grinned, proudly.

Chiron patted her on the shoulder. "You are a natural, child. With more practice and dedication, you'll be able hit the hardest objects. Keep practicing."

He patted her once again before walking away, his horse shoes making little clip clop noises.

She pulled other wooden arrow out her quiver and let out a huff of warm air into the chilly winter. She pulled the the string back and...

PLUCK!

An arrow flew right past her nose, its feathers touching her face. It whizzed right past Chiron's tail, cut a few hair, before lodging itself into a tree.

Nico grinned, bashfully.

Jaz shook her head and sighed in an annoyed and fondful way. She let the arrow loose and it hit the target, nicking the outside of redness of the bulleyes.

She smiled triumphedly to Nico who stuck his tongue put in reply.

Unknownst to her, a few hunters perked up slightly in interest of her.

...

DINNER

Nico took a bit of his pizza before he explained it for the third time.

"You see, Zeus's thunderbolt causes 1,000 damage but you see Ares shield can delect a maximum of 400 damage. Ares will get hit by 600 damage but he'll still live though even if he'll only have 200 health left. Get it now?"

Connor's eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

He hestiantly said, "No."

Nico sighed.

Mythomagic wasn't that hard. Sure you had to have a lot of luck, strategizing skills, patience, and perfect memories of the stats but still, Mythomagic wasn't that hard.

"What don't you get?"

Connor instantly lauched into a speech. "Why would Zeus want to kill Ares. I want, geez, that guy is annoying but not I-Want-To-Blast-You-Into-Smithereens annoying. And how does Ares shield deflect 400 damage? From what Percy said, it was just this dusty thing that couldn't withstand ten godly javelins. Besides, isn't his shield metal which is a conductor for lightning? Should he, instead of blocking 400, lose 400?"

Once again, Nico sighed. He glanced over to Jaz. Considering how she was practically spitting out her pizza at Travis when she spoke -raged-, she wasn't doing any better.

...

BEDTIME

Jaz tossed and turned. Her sleeping bag was itchy and smelled like dog pee, the hard floor hurt her back, and she was practically inhaling dust bunnies at each breath, but that wasn't the problem. There was something missing.

She suddenly sat up in realization. She was so stupid!

Jaz dug around in her pack for the feel of soft material. As her fingers skimmed the raggedy yarn, she pulled it up. Her yellow blanket fell onto her lap as she searched for Annette. Annette, her stuffed elephant. It -or she, as Jaz insisted- was a little pale yellow thing with a rose print. She huddled in her blanket as she buried her face in Annette's fabric skin. The sweet familiar smell of vanilla and nutmeg greeted her. She could already feel her eyelids getting heavier.

"Hey, is that vintage?" someone whispered.

Jaz removed Annette and glanced in their direction.

Travis.

"I don't know."

"Well, I think it is." Travis said, looking at it interestedly from his bed. "Where did you get it? Isn't vintage expensive? I thought you said you were an orphan."

A twinge of annoyance woke up in her.

Orphan.

"I am." Jaz said in a colder tone. "And I didn't steal it if that's what you're implying. Good night."

She rolled over so her back was to him, effectively cutting off all conversation.

Jaz squeezed Annette tighter.

I thought you said you were an orphan.

Shut up! she told her brain. Shut up!

She willed that conversation out of her mind and tried thinking of Mythomagic, Camp, and the warm smell of Annette.

Soon, her mind was filled with flashes of fighting, Mythomagic, and wild thoughts about heroes.

Eventually, with the help of Annette, she was lulled to sleep.

But even Annette couldn't stop nightmares.


	3. Nightmares

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS!**

**Word Count: 5,292**

**AN: Read. Enjoy. Review. Be happy. :)**

_"Sometimes, the line between reality and dreams are blurred until you're left standing alone, trying to sort out the mess you call life."_

_-A Very Wise Person (A.K.A CookiesCream333)_

**Chapter 3: NIGHTMARES**

_Where Nightmares Come In Different Forms, During Both Night And Day._

She ran faster, not daring to look back.

Jaz put her arms up to shield her face from the snapping branches. She stumbled slightly on a root of a tree but quickly repostioned herself. She willed herself to run faster, every touch of the ground shortened until it seemed like she soaring through forest.

Every muscle strains in her body, screaming for her to stop, her throat was parched with thirst, sweat blinded her eyes, and any second she was sure her lungs were going to implode.

But she pushed on.

Run, run, run. Run, run-

She made a mistake of stepping in a puddle of water.

It rippled, but not the way every other ordinary water was suppose to. More like jello. Slowly and sluggishly, it rippled, clinging on to her leg. Full of panic, Jaz tried to pull her foot out, but instead of letting go, it sucked her in it.

Her vision on the dark forest turned into a blurry view of water and a flurry of precious bubbles of oxygen escaped her mouth. She choked on the water, it's usual tasteless flavor, suddenly a burst hot, burning gasoline searing her throat. Every pore on her body popped and, seemingly, burst in flames. Her eyes throbbed with a mixture of this hellish water and tears.

Suddenly, she fell out of the water and tumbled through a free fall of a large cavernous pit. Wind whistles in her ear and loose flyaway strands of hair whipped around her face. She flipped a few times and slammed into the rocky, cold walls. She desperately tried to grab chunks of protruding rocky to stop the fall but the only thing she got was bloody fingers.

Jaz skidded against wall again, scraping her shoulder.

BAM!

Without warning, the breath was knocked out of her lungs. She slammed against the ground to a painful crunch, jarring every bone in her body. She gasped -and groaned-, shakily getting up her feet like a scared newborn horse.

She was placed in a gray room, its cavernous walls stretching upwards as far as the naked eye could see. There was no roof, just a never ending black abyss, with no light at the end.

Across the room, red drapes were lavishly adorned above a bumpy area of the wall.

Maybe an exit.

Desperate to get out of this unsettling room, she ran over to them and threw them open. Instead of a door she had expected, there was a silver, full-size mirror. It was simple and plain, with its's smooth straight panes, but elegant.

The surface of it rippled, looking suspiciously like the puddle of 'water' she fell into.

She gasped.

In the mirror, was a shapshot of her younger self.

Jaz was small, barely a toddler. She still had baby fat clinging to her body and small, chubby fingers with an aura of innocence around her. Her hair was short and messy with strands of hair sticking up like she just gotten out of bed. Which she probably had, judging from her floppy nightgown. One hand was up rubbing the sleepiness out of her green eyes. The image was see seemingly shivering and shaking, showing two of the same pictures.

The image rippled and when it stilled, her present day image look its place.

Her hair was now much longer and in a braid. She still had a little rebellious baby fat, much to her displeasure. She was bundled in jeans and a big coat but there was a large grin stretching across her face, showing off the pearly, bright look. In her gloved hands were the familiar Mythomagic cards.

Before she had enough time to inspect herself, once again, her image rippled but instead of one picture there was three pictures.

The one furthest to the right, was her in a Hunter of Artemis outfit. She looked almost the same but her eyes were wiser and older with a more serious sheen to it. It was the same color and shape but her eyes were sharp, cutting through her soul as she stared at herself. She looked lean and wiry, leaving behind the baby fat. In her rough, calloused hands, she held a notched arrow in the bow. Jaz took note of the jagged scar on her left temple and the brown stains of what suspiciously looked like blood splattered on her silver parka.

The image in the middle depicted her as at least 25. Older Jaz was dressed casually, a T-shirt, jeans, and worn-out sneakers, although her finger gloves didn't quite fit the outfit. Her hair was cut jagged above her shoulders, the ends curling slightly. She was smiling, the corners of her mouth lifting just enough to show a bit of her teeth. She had little dimples on both of the upper part of her cheeks. Her smile was sweet but it didn't seem natural, more of the type of smile you practice over and over in front of a mirror. Something about the her cold smile and how the warmth didn't quite reach her eyes, unsettled her. She seemed more mature, but that Jaz still looked happy. She was in the middle of brushing a strand of hair out of her face. A cold, surprised pang shot through Jaz. There was a ring on her finger. Actually, she had mulitple rings littered on her fingers, but her ring finger was adorned with a fancy, thick gold band covered in too many jewels. Her ring finger on her left hand.

The furthest to left and final picture was the most depressing. Jaz, as a teenager, looked like she given up on life. She was sitting in a corner of a dark room, her knees bundled against her chest. She wore the typical dark, brooding clothes of a teenager with a goth phase: black jeans, black sneakers, and a dark olive green jacket over a black shirt. Her hair was short and curly just like the previous but it looked limp and sad like it given up, too. The most despondent thing was her eyes. Broken, lifeless, and bloodshot like shattered glass, like she was already dead. It seemed hollow and empty at her first, but buried deep in the end of the bottomless pits of her murky green eyes was pain. The type of pain that shows you seen too much in a too short time.

Jaz leaned forward and reached out her arm as if to comfort this forlorn image of her, but the moment her fingertips touched the mirror, the pictures changed.

She stumbled backwards, nearly tripping on her own two feet, and gasped.

The new imaged seemed to be some sick cross of an emaciated person and a monster. It was tall and dressed in a ripped black T-shirt and jeans like a normal teenager. That was the only thing normal about it.

Its deathly white skin was stretched painfully across its wounded thin body. Even the smallest flicker of movement was restricted and painful. Covering its chthonic body was millions of cuts and scrapes, varying in size, shape, and gruesomeness. Instead of oozing that normal red blood with gold specks that demigods had, it had black blood. Foul black blood that was thick and abhorrent, the color, texture, and smell of gasoline. Its hair -if you call that hair- hung sparsely and limply from its skull. Several chunks of hair was missing. It had an unpleaseant hue, much resembling hair that had been dyed to many times until it was muddy and discolored. Its right shoulder, ribs, and legs was completely clawed up with the skin ripped out so you could see its severed veins and bone. It's bottom lip was so scratched up, it only looked like a ragged tissue hanging from its mouth. And its eyes-

Oh my god. Its eyes.

Its eyes were nothing but empty sockets filled with black twirling power. Like thick black mist if there was such a thing. A whirling power that be decribed for no word could accurately decribed what it inflicted.

Fear coursed through her. That type of fear that froze your heart in terror, that made your back cold and princkly and so, so unprotected. The fear that reduced you into sniveling child lost in the woods. Fear that made you feel your heartbeat in your fingertips for you think those precious heartbeats will be your last.

Black power oozed out of the sockets like evaported tears, disappearing and sharing its fear with the world.

CLOSER.

She felt her heartbeat thumping in her fingertips. Her legs were rooted in place.

CLOSER, MY DEAR MERGE.

Its lips didn't moved. It appeared the sound was coming from its eyes. The voice of a thousand chilly, heartbroken souls echoed from it. It soothed and scared her at the same time, pushing her terror level back and forward.

Her right foot step forward, clumsily, its sound reverbating off the wall and through the room.

"Wh-" she started and faltered.

Who are you?

_What_ are you?

CLOSER.

She didn't move. It did not say anything.

Hesitantly, she dragged her left foot forward.

GOOD. CLOSER, NOW.

"N-No." she stammered, trying to sound brave. "Wha-who a-are you?"

ALL IN GOOD TIME.

It didn't clarify.

Jaz stepped forward, unwilling.

She didn't want go near this thing. She wanted to run away and escape. But her instincts and conscience told to go forward, contridicting her mind.

Her brain and all sense of logic screamed for her to get a grip and stop but this nagging, nagging feeling beckoned her forward.

She slowly and tentatively walked over to it until her nose was nearly touching the smooth surface or the mirror.

Jaz suddenly realized how much its body structure resembled her. They both shared the same long nose and jointed knees. Almost like if-

Faster than lightning or the speed of sound, its hand ripped out of the mirror until it was clenched around her throat.

Jaz choked and gagged, her hand clawing its hand, fruitlessly.

"Wh-What?" she said.

In result it only squeezed her airway stronger.

The blood pounded in her skull while her lungs screeched for oxygen. Yellow dots danced in her vision. They steadily grew darker and bigger until it covered her vision completely black. She felt like she drowning in an ocean. A hollowing, dark ocean. Its silence too loud for her ears.

Too much.

Too much.

Then, a bright light came, accompanied by a loud sound.

"Jaz!"

* * *

She gasped.

Jaz doubled over the bed, her screams filling the room.

She felt someone shaking her, their lips moving rapidly, making blurred noises.

The volume of her yells achingly went up in a haze of fear.

Slowly, as the panic levels dropped, she started regonizing the features of the person. Small nose, long hair, dark eyes.

Nico.

Her screaming trickled to a stop.

Nico.

Her fingers unconsciously curled around his arm.

"Nico."

The said person stopped talking for a moment.

"Jaz." he breathed her name before pulling into a crushing hug.

She obliged and buried her face into his shoulder, trying to stop the tears scalding her eyes.

"Oh my god." Nico said. The tone of his voice sounded like he was starting breath again after a very long time. "I woke up and you were shaking and choking. I tried to wake you up but you wouldn't -you couldn't- wake up. You started to scream. To scream. Travis had to carry you -drag you because you kept fighting- to the infirmary but you still wouldn't wake up. You wouldn't stop choking. Then, your heart stopped. _It stopped_. They started pounding your chest and feeding you nectar and defibrillators and everything." His voice broke for a second. "But you still didn't breathe. You weren't breathing."

His voice dropped to a whisper.

"You died."

She blinked.

"But-But I-I'm awake now. Right?"

She lifted a hand to feel her face.

Nico nodded, his watery eyes stopped panicking for a second.

"They were about to give up but you just woke up. You just-"

Chiron and Zoe burst into the room with a panicked child of Apollo by their side.

Jaz suddenly realized her surroundings. She sitting in an white infirmary bed with Travis and Connor Stoll, Nico, and probably the entire Apollo Cabin crowded around her. Which as a grand total of seven people.

"What happened?" Chiron asked.

Nico retold his story in his shaky voice. Chiron nodded gravelly every now and then.

"Do you know the cause of this?" he asked one of the Apollo kids.

They started shaking their heads as Jaz said, "I had a dream."

Zoe stiffened.

"A dream?" she inquired.

When Jaz nodded and confirmed "Yes", Zoe said a very loud, authoritive voice, "Everybody out."

Grudgingly, everyone cleared the room, but nobody said anything when Nico didn't budge.

"Explain." Zoe said.

As Jaz started recalling her dreams, Zoe's face immediately showed obviously relief but as soon as she barely mentioned the mirror her expression became blank and unreadable. Chiron and Nico showed blatant worry, especially Nico.

"So?" she said as she concluded her story. "Do you what happened?"

"The mirror." Zoe said. "Describe the mirror again."

She re-explained it again.

"What?" Nico asked Zoe, curiously. "What's wrong?"

"Hmm." Zoe said, either ignoring Nico or not hearing him. "Jaz, was thy neck like that earlier?"

"What?" Jaz said, her hand flying up to her neck, instantly. "What do you mean?"

She grew more and more scared and concerned for herself every second more everyone stared at her neck. Even Nico as he rummaged through the medical supply closet and slowly handed her a small compact mirror. He never once took his eyes off her.

Nervously, she opened up the mirror to what all the fuss was about.

She dropped it.

There were purplish and yellow-brown bruises and red markings on her neck. Red marking resembling fingers. Long, skinny fingers. Fingers that resembled the monster that choked her.

"That's not possible." she said. "That can't happen. My dream couldn't choke. The only resonable explanation is that I accidentally choked myself or someone choke me in the middle of my dream or-or-"

"Calm down." Chiron said.

Jaz took several deep gulps of air to satisfy him, then looked expectantly at him to continue.

"Have you ever had any dreams like this before?"

Jaz shook her head as Nico nodded his.

"Remember?" he said. "Remember when we were little and you would have dreams of something chasing you or something dark always lurking out the corner of your eye?"

"But that's all they were!" Jaz insisted. "Dreams! They were random little nightmares! Everyone has them!"

"No," Nico said. "Yours were different! They were always coming back! The same dark thing in your dreams!"

"I probably-"

"Enough." Zoe interrupted. "Jazmine, check thy shoulder."

"Check thy shoulder?" Jaz said her hand now moving towards the said area.

She pulled her shirt collar down, her eyes widened drastically.

It was scraped and red, blood leaking out of its wound.

"That-that-"

"In thy dream," Zoe explained. "Thee scratched thy shoulder falling down the pit. Thee also scratched thy fingers."

Jaz glanced down at her fingers. As Zoe said, they were bloody and scraped.

"I don't understand. I-I can't get injuries in my sleep. That's impossible!"

Zoe shook her head. "Do not dwell over this situation. Sleep. We shall discuss this later on."

"But-" Jaz protested.

She shot a look of warning to Jaz. "The Apollo children will nurse thy wounds before thee goes to sleep. Thee shall stay in the infirmary overnight and stay until the Apollo children deem thee fit to leave."

She promptly turned on her heel and pompously marched out the door as if she owned this place.

Jaz threw Chiron a helpless look. "She's not the boss around here, right? Can't I go back to my cabin?"

"I believe, Ms. Nightshade is right on this." Chiron said. "The Apollo children should monitor over you tonight and in case your dream happens again, you'll already be in the infirmary, surrounded by expert medics."

"All of them are teens, Chiron!" Jaz argued. "None of them even pasted high school yet! The Hermes Cabin is filled with even more teens!"

"But the Hermes children have less knowledge over the medical field than the Apollo children. Even though they know little, you are in better hands with the Apollo children."

Jaz sighed in defeat.

"Okay." she said, glumly. "But can I at least have Annette and my blanket with me?"

"Of course." Chiron said before saying to Nico, "Mr. di Angelo, may you do Ms. di Piante a favor and fetch her elephant and blanket?"

"Sure thing." Nico said before giving Jaz an unreadable look and dashing away to the Hermes Cabin.

It never occured to her how Chiron knew Annette was a stuffed elephant.

...

"Okay." Michael said, wrapping up the last of her bandages. "Try sleeping on the other side tonight and don't put any pressure on your shoulder. In a few day, with proper care, you'll be as good as new."

"Is there an chance of me being as good as new by tomorrow?" Jaz asked.

Michael let out a good natured laugh. "I'm sorry, kiddo. I don't think so. But don't worry, you'll still get to participate in most Camp activities."

She nodded.

"Kayla!" Michael called. "Can you give Jaz her things!?"

A girl around her age with blonde hair and bright blue eyes, almost the younger girl carbon copy of Michael, bounced over and gave her Annette wrapped in her blanket.

"The boy who gave you this told me to tell you, 'boon-non-noth-thay?' and 'Slep strayto?" Kayla said, her eyebrows scrunching together in determination to pronouce the words.

Jaz smiled. "'Buonanotte' and 'slepp stretto' means 'Good night' and 'sleep tight' in Italian."

"Ooo!" she exclaimed. "They sounded familiar! My friend was trying to teach me Spanish for months but I never got it. I guess Italian and and Spanish are similar! I heard-"

"Okay," Michael broke in. "Time to hit the hay, little linguists!"

He pulled the blanket up for Jaz and ruffled her hair before ushering Kayla out of the room.

"I'll try to teach you Italian!" Jaz not-so-quietly whispered to Kayla. "Maybe I'll have better luck teaching you!"

"Sure!" Kayla un-discreetly whispered back as Michael switched off the lights.

"Buonanotte, il mio amico!" Goodnight, my friend!

"Um, boon-non-noth-thay to you, too!"

The door shut.

Jaz smiled to herself snuggling deeper into her blankets, clutching on to Annette.

* * *

The next day, she was bombarded by well-wishers. Some people were genuinely concerned for her but others were just curious what happened. Her standard reply was usually something on the lines of, "I had a bad nightmare that gave me injuries and I died and came back to life. Thanks for your concern" or something like that.

She spent most the day hopping from one activity to the next. In the morning, she excelled at archery and had a stomache due to excessive laughter of Nico almost impaling his body parts in the most hilarious ways but later he got back by her by disarming her in Swords under a few seconds. She claimed he cheated and she had tripped over shoelaces, but nobody mentioned her shoes were tied.

After lunch, much to Nico's dismay, they had pegasus lessons. Much to Jaz's dismay, they barely even got to get on to the pegasi. Two minutes into the lesson, Silena had a heated argument with one of the Hunters of Artemis which ended with a piccolo, a dead bird, and two kumquats smeared in dill oil.

Soon after what Jaz dubbed 'THE UNSPEAKABLE' incident, they had javelin practice...which they both utterly failed at. Jaz and Nico could barely pick up a javelin with their combined strengths, much less throw it twenty feet. They just didn't "have the guns for it", as their instructor kindly put it.

Then, they had track. They were no where near the nymph's speed but they managed to out run most of the older kids, which gave them back some of their lost pride for javelin practice.

Afterwards, during wrestling, Jaz ran pleasantly ran into Kayla again while Kayla was holding her in a chokehold. Their conversation went something like this:

Jaz: Um, what exactly are we suppose to do?

Kayla: I'm going to take you down!

Jaz: Excuse me?

Kayla: You're going to cower under this wrestling champ!

Jaz: What?

Kayla: Gargh! *Charges her and puts her in a chokehold*

Jaz: Non può respirare! Can't breathe!

Kayla: Jaz? I didn't recognize you speaking English!

Jaz: Let. Go.

Kayla: *Lets go* Oh. Sorry.

So, that's how Jaz ended up choking in less than 24 hours. Turns out Kayla was just really excited she met someone scrawnier than her so she could finally win a wrestling match. Jaz had no comment on that.

Finally, dinner came and past until it was time for the most exciting part. Capture the Flag.

Which Jaz couldn't participate in.

"What!?" she exclaimed. "Why can't I!?"

Chiron sighed before kneeling down. Jaz wondered how he accomplished that with his horse legs. He laid his hand on her uninjured shoulder.

"Teenagers can be vicious and I think it's best you're out of harm's way. You can't fight, especially with your injuries. You're throat is already giving you trouble breathing and after the wrestling chokehold and overexertion during track, it's worse. And look at your shoulder and fingers! I don't think it's going to work, Ms. di Piante."

"But I've been doing activities all day!" she remonstrated.

"There's a difference between shooting arrows and shooting arrows in battle."

After that she morosely stood by Chiron as he retold everyone the rules. Though, getting to ride on Chiron's back and make tiny braids in his hair while rattling off what his attack points would be, kind of made up for it.

Once the Hunters of Artemis added a few dents in the Stoll brothers' head, they also got to join the Chiron Express. She had a fun time bandaging their heads.

The game concluded as Zoe Nightshade crossed the boundary with their flag.

Finally, Chiron let her regroup with the others.

She slid off his back and ran over to the forming crowd by the lake.

"What going in?" she huffed to Nico.

He craned his neck to see what's going while she stood on her tippy toes.

"I think Thalia and Percy are fighting." he said.

"No way!" she gasped as she tried to find a hole in the crowd to worm through.

Squirming through the mass of people, they finally got to the front to see Thalia get up, angrily, her hair and clothes stuck to her sopping wet body.

Percy said something indistinct and almost immediately, Thalia shot something right back, making Percy contort with rage. His hands flew above his head, making slow gestures. Her breath caught in her throat as she watch with wide eyes Percy levatating the entire creek into the air. At least a hundred gallons of icy water funneled over his head. He tensed, ready to hurl the entire mass of water and he...dropped it.

The look of anger slid off his face and his eyes lost its blood-lust as it refocused on something behind Thalia.

Jaz whirled around and with a shot of terror, she immediately clenched onto Nico's hand.

"What," Nico said, breathlessly. "Is that?"

Even though she was only at Camp for a short while, even she heard bits and scattered pieces of rumors about the Oracle.

An old hippie.

A crumbling woman dying with age but still living.

The phantom in the attic that sent you to your doom.

Like she was doing this every second.

A terrible hissing voice spoke in her mind, it's hollowing voice echoing through her skull. Jaz moaned and covered her ears, trying to block out the creaky voice, with no avail.

_I am the Speaker of Delphi. Speaker of Prophecies of Phoebus Apollo, slayer of the mighty Python._

It's raspy voice and dead eyes zeroed in on Zoe. Zoe Drew and a shaking breath, asking the dear question of her Lady.

Slowly, the oracle drawled out the prophecy, spewing green mist.

With the clunk, it sat down on the dirt, whatever life it had draining out of it.

...

Jaz shifted in her sleepy bag.

The last time she fell asleep she died and she really didn't want to die.

After the Capture the Flag fiaso, all the head cabin counselors went to a 'top-secret meeting' which meant they were going to discuss the prophecy. Everyone in the Hermes Cabin tried to stay up for Connor and Travis to come back with juicy news but later, after at least two hours, the honory second-in-command, an unclaimed girl named Hanna who stayed in the Hermes Cabin so long she was practically a Hermes kid, decided lights out. Almost everybody immediately passed out when they hit their respective beds and areas of floor. It was an exhausting day.

As Jaz tried to fight off sleep, the door of the Hermes Cabin slowly creaked open. Bleary eyed, she sat up in her sleeping bag, her hand raised to her face, trying to stop the onslaughter of light from flooding to her eyes. Two almost identical boys stepped into the room, quietly shutting the door behind them.

"Travis?" She said, slurring his name. "Connor?"

Surprisingly, it wasn't her who said Connor's name. Nico sat up in his makeshift bed bed, rubbing sleepiness out of his eyes. Almost like a chain reaction, several other Hermes inhabitants got up, tiredly murmuring Travis's and Connor's names.

"Sshh," Connor said, putting his finger to his lips.

"Gather, young children," Travis said in a goofy whisper. "We bring news from the wonderous meeting of the Big House."

Drowsy whispers laced with excitement crawled their way over to the counselors.

The brothers re-enacted and enthusiactically re-told the meeting down to almost every little detail from the clips in Silena's hair to the different shades of anger on Zoe's face. At the point of Travis and Connor giving Phoebe a T-shirt, in the dim light, their triumph smirking faces looked unsettling, almost scary.

"Connor?" someone said hushly. "Who was the last member of the quest?"

"Yeah!" some else piped up. "Zoe, Phoebe, Thalia, Grover; that's only four!"

Travis frowned. "Well..." a hint of uncertainty rang in his voice.

Maybe it was her imagination but, for a split second, Travis and Connor's eyes darted in the direction of Nico and Jaz.

"Well...um, you see...um, I.." he stammered.

"Spit it out!" someone shouted from the back.

"Its just one of the Hunters." Connor said quickly, "Its no big deal."

"No big deal?" anoter person yelled out. "We want to know who's on one of the DEADLIEST QUEST OF THE CENTURY!"

"Yeah!" "Yeah!" "Yeah!" People chorused.

Connor's eyes shot to them again.

People turned around, tracking his gaze. Once they realized who his eyes darted to, they quiet down for a second. Hush murmurs swam through the crowd, people covering their mouth as they spoke and eyes shooting back and forth to Jaz and Nico.

A cold wave of fear and realization crashed into Jaz's system. Her breath got caught in her throat as she realized.

"Travis?" she whispered.

The talking plummeted to the stop as everyone stared sympathetically at them.

Nico's arm shook violently on her arm as she spoke.

"Travis?" she repeated again when he refused to look up. "Travis? Is Bianca g-" she choked on her own words, too scared to continue on.

"Is it Bianca?" Nico's voice quavered as he spoke.

He hesitated for a second -for one tiny miliseconds- and she knew.

Nico stood up, Jaz following him in tow.

"Guys?" Connor said, uncertainly.

"I'm going to bed." Nico said, his voice stiff and stoic.

Jaz nodded, inaudibly.

She climbed into her sleeping bag, trying to ignore her cabin mates' burning stares. Their burning stares and the burning feeling of her sister leaving her again.

...

Jaz tried to keep her heavy eyes open but between the warm smell of Annette, the soothing coolness of her sleeping bag, and Nico's rhymetic breathing, it was a lost cause.

The world blurred as her eyes fluttered shut.

...

She was running through a maze.

Jaz took a sharp turn left and after a few more sprints through the dusty halls she paused in front of a glowing blue delta.

She reached out her hand and pressed her index finger against it. Instantly, she was sucked into a world of colors whirling like a spinning wheel mixed with bits of odd sounds and voices.

"You both grown so much."

"Darling, we're unstoppable. It's you and me against the world and, boy, the world is cowering in fear."

"Please, Bianca, please."

"I'll save you the search and tell you the truth: there is no cure, no saving grace, no way out. Just pain. Pain and suffering until the very end."

"Stop it!"

"Just admit it! Once you accept it, it'll go away!"

"My name's Sadie and this dork here is my brother, Carter."

"Do you have any idea where he is? Please, do you know anything? Anything?"

"Please. Please. Just go."

"Never call me that. You shall address me by my name or My Lady. Understand?"

"It's our secret, okay?"

"You could've of died!"

"So... I'm guessing you root for the Red Sox and not the Yankees?"

"Help me. Please."

"Where have you been!? Four months! Four months!"

"Oooooooh! Nico and You-Know-Who sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!"

"Oh my gods! I couldn't find you and I- Oh my gods!"

"You shall rid the world of this curse, my Lady."

"Welcome to the the 21th century."

"It's a place that sucks out all joy and happiness before choking you with grief and demands you worship it."

"You're different."

"Hello, my name is Jazmine Marcelo."

...

Jaz gasped, sitting up.

She was in Camp Half-Blood. In the Hermes Cabin. Far away from mazes and voices.

She sighed and instead of going back to sleep, she crawled out of her sleepbag and to the door. Two days, two nightmare and she didn't want to make it two days and three nightmare. Jaz couldn't stand it if she woke up again with her heart racing with panic and feeling of spiders crawling up her spine. No, she couldn't stand it.

Her hand met the cold doorknob of the Hermes Cabin and as quickly and silently as a fleeting shadow, she slipped out.


	4. Mio Sorella

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS.**

**Word Count: 7,410**

**AN: Read. Enjoy. Review. Be happy! :)**

_ "When he died, all things soft and beautiful and bright would be buried with him" _  
_― __Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles_

**Mio Sorella**

_My Sister_

The door shut with quiet click.

Underneath the inky black sky, strewed with glowing stars and an ever radiant, round, and perfect moon, Jaz stepped outside, embracing the soft flickering breeze. It was a relatively warm night for the winter, just enough to melt the snow slightly so there was a soft crunch underneath her feet.

With her back against it, Jaz slid down the wall of Hermes Cabin, sitting down. She closed her eyes and took a lungful of the crisp winter air, actutely aware of her surroundings. How small threads of grass poked her through the slushy snow, how the old splintery walls scratched her back with the slightest movement, how the only sound in the entire Camp was the soft musical notes of the soft breeze. Her persistent thumping heart slowed into a tranquil beat as she breathed in and out. In and out. In and out.

"Jaz?"

Surprisingly, she didn't jump up in fright like she usually would. She felt calm and cool, connected to the world and nature around her.

It took her several moments to reply.

"Hm?" she replied to the familar voice of Nico, the noise seeming to loud to her ears.

"How long have you been sitting here?"

Jaz climbed to her feet, not bothering to brush off the wet chunks of snow and dirt. She took in the image of Nico in all his curly bedhead glory and too big pyjamas.

"I don't know," she breathed. "I had a nightmare so I came out here."

He nodded, understandedly. In panic, she would immediately break away from people and escape somewhere quiet. A common instinct they both shared. The loud, reckless, happy side of them always stole the spotlight during the daytime so when the sun sunk beneath the horizon their thoughtful, less loud side of them almost always took them over.

"I had a nightmare, too." Nico shared.

Jaz glanced at him. Now that she thought about it, she saw the glimmer of sweat smudges corners of his face, the disgruntled state of his clothes, and the scared, frenzied sheen in his dark eyes.

"In my dream, I was playing Mythomagic with you," he continued. "But then, you stiffened and then you started transforming into a tree. Your face turned wooden and slowly start being buried in bark, your legs grew long into roots, and your arms turned into branches. I tried to save you but I slipped on one of your nymph cards and slipped into a hole beneath you. Like a rabbit hole. I fell and fell until I fell into a maze."

Jaz stood up straighter in surprise which didn't go unnotice by Nico.

"What?" he said, pausing his story.

"In my nightmare," she explained. "I was running through a mae. Then, I was sucked into a colorful spinning place when I touched this-"

"-glowing blue delta." They said at the same time in perfect unison.

Their eyes widened drastically.

"Woah." Nico said. "That's so-"

"-scary?" Jaz offered.

He nodded, looking breathless.

"We need tell Chiron." Jaz said. "These dreams mean something."

"And maybe someone else had the same dream." Nico added.

"Let's go."

They started running out of the circle of cabins to the unlit Big House.

Suddenly, Nico stopped abrupted and sticking his arm out to side, causing Jaz to ram into it. He put his finger to his lips and looked wide eyed to the dinner pavilion.

Her eyes immediately picked up the quiet murmurs of two girls. But not just any girls. Bianca and Zoë.

They crept swiftly closer to their voices and ducked behind the white columns, blending into the shadows, sort of like sneaky ninjas.

Jaz strained her ears to hear their hushed yet urgent conversation, catching only bits and parts to connect by herself.

Travis and Connor poisoned Phoebe's shirt? Jaz mouthed, disbelief to Nico.

It was so unnatural for the Stoll brother to hurt someone in their prank. They've barely known them for 48 hours but they didn't seem to have the guts to physically hurt someone.

She got another wide eyed look in return.

"I have thy word not to talk about that. We shall find out soon. Now come. Dawn is breaking," she heard Zoë say.

As the two girls jogged up the steps, Jaz quickly scattered out of the way, into the the pillar's shadows.

Zoë halted in her tracks, her back straightening as if she felt the presence of an hand slowly lowered to her bow.

Jaz held her breath and tensed, ready to make a dash for it when necessary. Fortunately, it wasn't necessary.

"The lights of the Big House are on! Hurry!" Bianca half-whispered, half-exclaimed.

Jaz exhaled quietly and slowly as the girls huried away. She glanced at Nico who gave her a curt nod that seemed to say everything.

It was funny, really, how easily they could communicate with each other with just a simple gesture. A raised eyebrow. A slight turn of the mouth. A clench of the first. This particular gesture meant something much more important and much more dire. It meant they had make sure their sister lived. Even if it meant breaking the rules of camp, and putting themselves in danger.

She pressed her lips into a straight line, preparing herself. Right as she was going to sprint towards the Big House, somone said, "Wait."

Jaz whirled around, surprising even herself she didn't get a whiplash.

There, in the icy cold behind them, was Percy 'Hero' Jackson.

The first thing came out of her mouth was, "What? Where did you-?"

"I've been here the whole time," he said, answering her un-said question. So much sneaky spies, "Invisble." he added.

Her jaw clattered to the floor as her eyebrows shot to the sky.

"Invisible!? Really!? How did-" she began.

"Wow," Nico whispered, his eyes rounder and bigger than quarter, shining with admiration. "Cool."

"How did you know Zoe and your sister were here?" he asked.

Jaz gave him a guilty smile. "You see, we both had a bad-"

"-time sleeping at the cabin!" Nico cutted in. Percy raised his eyebrows at him which he blushed at. Which Jaz raised her eyebrows at.

"W-We heard them walking and whispering by and we kinda followed them and... Yeah." Nico stammered on before ending it awkwardly.

"And you're thinking on following them on the quest." Percy stated his green eyes boring into theirs.

Jaz blinked.

"How did you figure it out?" she asked.

"Because if it was my sister, I'd probably be thinking the same. But you can't."

Jaz clenched her teeth and stuck out her chin, rebelliously.

"Because we're too young?" Nico said, obstinately.

"Because we're not experienced enough?" Jaz snapped but before they could add another word, Percy said, "Because they won't let you. They'll catch you and send you back here. And... Yeah, because you're too young and inexperienced. Remember the manticore? There will be more like that. More dangerous. Some heroes will die."

Jaz's heart sunk. She did think about the monsters they might encounter but when Percy said it, it sounded like reality. Not just something of her mind.

"Maybe you're right. But, but you can go for m-us." Nico said.

"Brilliant!" Jaz said, enthusiastically as Percy balked, "Say what?"

Percy Jackson, the hero of Camp Half-Blood, could go protect Bianca, save his 'not-girlfriend', and keep everybody safe! He could do what they can't and do it ten times better.

Jaz shook her finger in his face, excitedly.

"You-You have the invisible cap thing-y." Jaz said, quivering in exhilaration as she gestured to his Yankee's cap. "You can go!"

"The Hunters don't like boys. If they find out-"

"Bianca doesn't mind boys." Jaz said. "It's just Zoe. Besides-"

"Don't let them find out." Nico said, taking the words right out of her mouth. "Follow them invisibly. Keep an eye on our sister. You have to. Please?"

"Nico-"

"You're planning to go anyways, aren't you?" Nico said.

He open his mouth and hesitated before sighing, "Yeah. I have to find Annabeth. I have to help, even if they don't want me."

"Great!" she said. "But if you go will you-"

"-promise to protect Bianca from harm?" Nico interjected.

Jaz shot him an annoyed look. Why was he butting into her sentences so much? She could finish her own words, thank you very much.

"I..." Percy said. "That's a big thing to promise on a trip like this. Besides, she's got Zoe, Thalia, Grover..."

"Promise." they urged at the same time, their voices blending into each others, mixing sweetly together.

"I'll do my best. I promise you that."

Jaz beamed as if he told her she was getting her personal rainbow for Christmas.

"Good! You should get going! And-"

"-good luck!" Nico cutted in again.

"Tell Chiron-"

"I'll make something up." Nico said. "I'm good at that. Go on!"

Percy nodded and ran up Camp Blood Hill, turning invisible as he put on a Yankees Cap.

They watched the hill for moment or two until Jaz broke the silence.

"You mean, _we'll_ make something up and _we're_ good at that." she corrected.

"Oh. Oh, yeah."

Jaz glanced at him, worriedly. His voice sounded airier and light and he was still staring the Thalia's Pine.

"What are you smiling about?" she asked.

The tiny grin on his face was instantly wiped away.

He blinked and said, "C'mon, let's get back to the Hermes's Cabin before the Stolls wake up."

Jaz stared him, curiously, before breaking out of her stupor and running after him.

"Hey! Wait up!"

* * *

"So Mr. Jackson decided to go visit some of his school friends before he went home to his mother?" Chiron questioned, his pinochle cards laid forgotten.

"Yes, sir," Jaz said.

"And he left at night?"

"Because he didn't want anyone to fuss about him, sir," Nico piped in.

"Without packing any of his belongings?"

"His friends already have a lot of his clothes and stationery at their house," she supplied. "He didn't want to waste time packing when his friends have a majority of his things. Percy wanted to get there quickly. You shouldn't spend to much time outside at night. Especially in the city."

Jaz gave Chiron a sweet, innocent smile that melted most adults.

He wasn't moved and still stared at them skeptically. But he let it slide.

"Ah, well, Mr. Jackson is quite experienced so-"

"Chiron! Chiron!" A camper shouted from the front porch. "One of the Hunters is destroying the Music area and one of the Apollo children!"

Chiron sighed and set down his pinochle cards down.

"I'm sorry, Dionysus," he said. "But this game will have to wait."

Chiron followed the camper out of the Big House, his hoof clops resonating through the house.

"So was it Lee Fletcher or Michael?" they heard him say distantly.

Mr. D studied them, a twinge of annoyance in his violet eyes.

After an uncomfortable period of time, he concluded, "Brats."

* * *

DAY 1

It was a pretty normal day. The sun hidden behind clouds, weather still as chilly as ever, the remaints of grass soaked with morning dew, and the ever present soft crunch of snow underneath their feet.

Jaz and Nico wandered Camp in search of something to do.

Their Mythomagic cards were confiscated from the Aphrodite Cabin.

Apparently, they were 'too adorbs' to be playing such a 'dorky' game. They were cooing over Jaz and Nico before one of the girls noticed the cards sticking out of Nico's pocket and snatched them.

'Be careful or you'll turn into a weird geek. All those looks for nothing.' she had said.

Silena had noticed and stepped in, apologizing and promising them she would get it back. As Silena, and her fancy furry high-heeled boots hurried away, Jaz couldn't help but feel a pang of shame and hurt. One day at camp, and they were already branded as a weird geek.

She caught a glimpse if Nico's face and the brief look of insecuries as enough to snap her out of her slump.

Jaz gave him a toothy grin.

"Race you to the tree!" she shouted, dashing off.

She heard Nico laugh and race after her.

...

Hyperactivity and a thrist of fun buzzed through their body as they walked around Camp.

"Who do you want to do?" Nico asked.

"I don't know," she replied, "Everyone else is busyand there's really nothing around us."

"Kayla?"

"No, she's with her siblings doing healthy stuff." she said, "In the infirmary, studying medical textbooks."

Jaz and Nico scanned the area and immediately zeroed in on a kind-faced girl who was tending a fire.

"Hi!" They piped as they sat down next to the girl.

"What are you doing?" Jaz asked.

She answered, her voice soft and melodious, "Tending the fire."

"Cool! Can we help?"

She glanced at them for a moment, surveying their faces as the warm flames highlighted her soft features. Her hair fell on her eyes liked a soft curtain. She smiled lightly, dimples punctuating the corners of her mouth, "Of course. You're welcome any time."

They poked around in the wet snow, gathering sticks and twigs for her hearth while chatting amiably about Mythomagic and ther various things. Jaz explained how they got to camp and her opinions on it while Nico spoke of Bianca.

"So," Jaz said. "We never introduced ourselves. I'm Jaz and-"

"I'm Nico!" Nico said. "What's your name?"

Once again she looked up, this time her brown hair brushing the side of her young face, revealing her eyes. They reflected and shown warm flames.

She called herself Hestia.

* * *

DAY 2

Kayla was still quarantined by her siblings because of her tiny cough, Connor was still a plant from yesterday's prank on Dionysus, Hestia was nowhere to be found, and the Ares Cabin had threatened them with a death warrant if they stepped a foot near them, so Jaz and Nico were, once again, stuck with nothing to do.

At first, they tried playing their newly-reclaimed Mythomagic in the Hermes cabin but a bunch of problems arose. For one, the cabin was just too crowded. Nobody wanted to go outside unless it was to pickpocket someone or have a snow ball fight. Jaz's Lotus Casino card was stolen five times in the hour alone, until she had to staple it to her pocket. There was absoulutely no elbow space in the tiny cabin, much less enough space to spread out all their card.

Then, they tried playing outside. Three words. It was cold. It got colder and colder, the wind howling its chilling song and the temperature plummeting faster than a bowling ball down the stairs, until the point where Jaz couldn't feel her toes and Nico swore his butt was frozen to the ground. The numbness spread over her body until she wasn't able to pick up her precious Mythomagic cards.

Finally, they were desperate enough to even try to play Mythomagic the Big House. But the second they took a step towards the large blue house, they could feel Mr. D's chilling glare, colder than the winter itself.

With heavy hearts (and heavy feet. They still haven't recovered from the sit in the cold snow), they crossed Mythomagic off their activities list.

From her puny area of crampness in the cabin, Jaz sighed.

From his puny area of crampess in the cabin, Nico sighed.

...

A CONVERSATION BETWEEN TWO BORED HALF-GODS

"I'm bored."

"Everybody's bored, Nico."

"Let's go outside."

"I'll sign your death certificate if you sign mine."

"Fine by me. But you can't steal my Boreas card!"

"Okay but you can't steal my clothes!"

"They're boys' clothes, anyways! Girls' clothes are suppose to be more... tight."

"What? Do you expect me to wear a corset?"

"Do you expect me to wear the stiff trousers _Bianca_ bought me?"

...

The conversation stopped abruptly after that. The sound her name brought a sharp pang deep within her hearts. They put on their winter clothes, wordlessly.

They trudged outside and stood. And stood. And stood.

Jaz find of expected something grand and magical to happen when she stepped outside. They were in a camp for half gods anyways. But nothing happened.

"What are we suppose to do now?" Jaz asked.

"I don't know."

Then, a wonderful idea sprung in her mind. A wonderful, wonderful idea.

"Hey Nico," Jaz said, a mischievious smile twisting the features of her face.

"What?"

"You have a little something right-" she bent down and as fast as a viper, she scooped a ball of snow in her gloved hands and flung it in his face. "-there."

For a second, Nico stood there, surprised, rooted like a tree. Then, he sprung into action. In less than another second, Jaz was met with a chunk of icy slush in her face.

She wiped the snowball off her face with the back of her hand and said, "It's on."

Nico took cover behind a nearby bench as Jaz dunked behind a tree.

She knelt and bundled up small balls of snow and chucked them at Nico, cackling as one hit him square in the face, causing him to topple and fall straight backwards. Suddenly, a flurry of white snow splat against her face before she dropped to the ground, choking up ice.

She heard Nico laughing uncontrollably and in a sing song voice, say, "Karma!"

Jaz wiped her mouth with her sleeve and blindly threw a snowball in his direction.

She heard a distinctive crash and a very familiar yelp. A yelp that wasn't Nico's.

Travis.

For second, Travis stared at her, bewildered, chunks of snow trickling down his brown hair. Then, his oh-so famous saracastic smile stretched across his face as he leaned down, scooped a ball of snow in his hands, and...

Jaz bolted.

SPLAT!

The snow ball hit the tree besides her, sending white powder in the air. She let loose a sharp laugh.

"You missed!" she taunted as she skidded left, another snowball narrowly missing her.

Jaz looked over her shoulder, seeing both Travis and Nico charging at her as they waged war in each other, armed with several snowballs.

She turned her head straight ahead, just in time to see a son of Hermes right in front of her, his nose buried in a book.

She slammed into him, senting them both tumbling and rolling down a small slope until they rammed into a tree. A large blanket of snow fell on top of them as they made contact.

Jaz groaned. She opened her eyes to see the son of Athena nose to nose with her, her on top of him.

"Whoa!" she said, reeling back in surprise. "Sorry!"

She immediately sprang to her feet and dashed off, throw a loose "See you later!" behind her shoulder. Besides, she saw Travis coming around the hill, Nico probably closely behind.

He pelt her with snowballs as she carefully avoided avoided them. A snowball brushed against her shoulder, leaving a fluff of white. Travis halted his attack for a moment to crunch his remaining snowballs into one mega-ball. He flung it at her with all his might.

The ball wove around Jaz as it steadily found its way to another target.

A target called Katie Gardner.

Katie's eyes widened drastically, almost comically, as the ball hurled its way to her way. With such force, the ball slammed straight into her chest causing her to fall straight back into the snow, her legs splayed, dropping the last of Camp's supply of strawberries, her back buried in the snow, and her entire body freezing in pure shock. Red spots of smashed strawberries littered the ground.

Unfortunately, the shock didn't last long. Blinking a few times, Katie hoisted herself upright, her face rigid with fury.

She glared at Travis with such malice Jaz could of swore he withered right in front of her.

The Camp -no, the world- shook as she bellowed, "TRAVIS STOLL! I SWEAR TO ALL THE GODS I WILL-"

Jaz would rather not repeat what she said.

Anyways, Katie threw a snowball at Travis, which he ducked at. The snowball hit a large tree branch. The tree branch shook and doused everyone under it with snow. It doused the seven cabin members of the Ares Cabin in dueling class.

The angry horde turned to glare at them, the swords in their hands making them even more menacing as they seemingly searched their souls for the culprit, written Jaz off as too young, Katie as too innocent, and immediate locked onto Travis.

The sheer amount of snowballs thrown at Travis could not be described in words. Travis, being a sneaky son of Hermes, dodged a majority of it. The rest splattered onto the field of unsuspecting -and now angry- campers.

Needless to say, there was a fullout snowball fight that stretched on for hours. It got particular nasty when a son of Ares hit a Hunter of Artemis. Jaz was pretty sure he still has the scar.

DAY 3

Jaz rolled over in her sleeping and yawned. She slowly moved her hand up to scratch an itch on her head. Her hand nudged something warm and soft. She blearily cracked open her eyes.

"EEEK!" she shrieked and yanked her blanket up to her chin.

"Hiya!" The upside-down, pleasant face of Kayla cheered.

"Kayla!" Jaz yelled, "You gave me a heart attack!"

"Really?" Kayla said, sounding too excited for Jaz's comfort, "I always wanted to treat someone having a heart attack. Okay, I have some-"

"It's just an expression!" Jaz said, sitting up, "What you doing here, anyways?"

Kayla grinned.

"I got release from quarantine!" she said in a sing song, "Get dressed. Let's go!"

"Go where?" Jaz moaned, surprise leaking out of her system as sleepiness took its place once more, "It's -what? seven o'clock! It's so early!"

"It's 6:47 a.m, dummy!" Kayla said, giving her a blinding smile, "The sun just rose. The Apollo children rise with their father!"

Jaz groaned flopped back on her bed.

"I thought Apollo was suppose lazy in the winter!"

...

Kayla pulled her around Camp, trying to guess her godly parent.

"Zeus? No, you're too peppy. Poseidon? Not calm enough. Athena? Too light-hearted. Hephaestus? Not... Weird enough. Apollo?" Kayla tried. She immediately brightened which was saying something because she was already practically glowing. "Yes! You're a daughter of Apollo!"

"But I don't look anything like you guys!"

Which was true.

They had blonde hair, she had black. They had blue eyes, she had green. They were miraculously tan in the winter, and she was not.

"Don't you want to be sisters?"

Jaz contemplated it. She grinned.

"Why, hello, dear sister." she said in posh voice, mirth poorly concealed. "I did not see you there."

Kayla flashed her a Cheshire Cat smile back at her before standing up straighter and tilting out her chin. "Ah, yes, hello, fellow daughter of Apollo. Do you fancy pranking the my -I mean, our- brother?"

Jaz stuck her elbow out for Kayla.

"Let's wreak havoc together."

...

After Will decided not to kill them for pouring syrup in his shirts, Jaz and Kayla parted ways, Jaz back to the Hermes Cabin and Kayla to archery practice.

"Bye, Kayla! See you at breakfast!" Jaz hollered.

"See ya later, alligator!" Kayla shouted back in response.

...

Jaz pulled the last chunk of gooey sugary-ness out of her hair.

"Ha!" Nico laughed, triumphantly, "I won that battle!"

"No, you did not!" Jaz snapped, more playfully than angrily. "Look at you! You're covered in marshmellows! For me, it's just my hair."

"Yeah," Nico said, "but I could easily wash it out while you will be sticky for days! So ha! Ha ha ha!"

Jaz stuck her tongue out at him.

"Yeah, but..." she said.

"What?"

She shoved him down, his nose clashing against the snow-ridden ground.

"I'm gonna beat you to the cabin!" she yelled as she ran.

"Cheater!" he hollered and race after her fleeting figure.

Jaz laughed, too happy and intoxicated to care about anything else.

...

_Bianca fled up the stairs, her breath loud and choppy by the time she reached the control room. Silver wires glittered on the gray walls. It smelled of rotting stink and an air of desperation, the latter most likely emitting from Bianca. The front of the room held a long table of complicated levers and __brass buttons. The lines on Bianca's face was tight with fear and determination, a scary mix to see on her. Her hands fluttered on the table, slamming random buttons._

_As nothing happened, she whispered, "Oh Gods, please. Please. Please."_

_She turned a switch, making an odd noise bubble out of the vents. Bianca yanked a lever down. The room shook, thundering._

_The quivering threw her off her feet and flung her across the room. Bianca scambled to her feet, glancing at a screen on the wall, the panic increasing in her eyes._

_"I'm coming, guys," she mumbled, and punched a red button._

_The room trembled harder, moving up and down, as if it was bouncing. Bianca wrapped her arm on a handled, securing herself as she continued to wreak the table._

_She slammed buttons, pulled levers, and twisted knobs. Suddenly, all the controls froze as if it finally sensed an intruder. Bianca, as much as comfused as scared, jigged the controls, panically._

_A light on the side of the room turned red as the blaring CODE RED sound blared through the room._

_She gave up on the controls and shakily crossed the vibrating room, collasping to her feet many times from sheer unbalance. She crawled to the gleaming wires hanging on the walls. Wobbling, Bianca stood up, tearing them out of their places and littering them on the rocking floor. With a roar and a tear of shrieking metal, the room started to violently convulse, throwing Bianca took the ground again. Her head slammed against the hard ground._

_From the floor, her eyes were caught by the screen on the wall._

_Her breath hitched. Her eyes widened. Her lips moved._

_A light slithered into the room, igniting the metal interior._

_The sound of Bianca's scream echoed._

...

Jaz flung herself out of her sleeping bag, wailing.

Someone caught her and held her tight. She screamed louder and slammed her fist in their flesh, yelling her sister's name. Their resistance wore her out as she collapsed, screaming for Bianca.

...

Jaz sat numbly in her sleeping bag, hiccuping, her small, cold hands curled around a mug of hot chocolate one of the Hermes kids got her after her crying tantrum was over.

Nico, as she found out, was extremely sick.

Connor and Travis had woken up to Nico's congested, wheezing coughs. As soon as the brothers alerted them, the Apollo children had swarmed him, poking him with their metal tools and taking his temperature. They immediate hauled him away to the infirmary for a proper diagnosis.

The Apollo children concluded Nico's system had violently reacted to something. Food, plants, air. It was some sort of allergic reaction mixed with illness.

Jaz, on the other hand, was said to have a normal old nightmare according to Cabin 8's intricate analysis. To her, that nightmare was not, in any way, normal. In most nightmares, they instantly start to fade instantly the moment you wake up until it was just a lingering spot in your memory. This nightmare seemed to be etched into her memory, as if it had been tattooed to her brain with a burning hot poker, every detail still vivid and alive.

"Hey, kiddo."

It took her several moments to look up from her rapidly cooling cup. The two bobbling marshmellows in the liquid cocoa seemed to be a sick joke, especially because the happiness of them earlier that night compared to this horrible hour.

Travis gave a small smile.

"Jeez," he said. "You sure get nightmare a lot. Maybe you should sleep during the day instead. Or will you just get daymares?"

Jaz didn't smile at his attempt of a joke.

"Here." he said, offering a smooth apple, green console.

She accepted it slowly, curiosity sparking.

"What is this thing?" she asked, shaking the strange device and holding it to her ear.

"A Nintendo DS," Travis laughed, gently pulling it away from her ear and laying it flatly in her palms. "and that's not how you use it."

"How _do_ you use it?"

He leaned over and fiddled around with the device before the small screen was lit aglow. Cute music buzzed out of it as pixelated characters danced around. In the center of the screen was the words MARIO KART.

"Like that," He said, grinning.

Tavis's plan to distract Jaz was working well. She was staring at the DS in wonder, absoulutely entranced.

It was like the kid had never seen technology, he thought.

She was playing around with the small knobs, gasping as it changed something in the screen. With her disheveled hair and the bright light from the game illuminating her face, she looked a normal kid staying up past their bedtime, not a demigod who would probably die before age 15.

Almost as she she sense something wrong, Jaz looked up from the DS, a smile on her face. A simple, care-free smile full of natïve that every child should have.

A sharp pang of grief stabbed his heart.

Contary to popular belief, Travis did not live on jokes and pranks. Along with how fun they were, he believed the suffering lives of a demigod should was some happiness. Every person in Camp went through Cabin 11 before they got claimed and Travis remembered every single one of them. Boys, girls, with odd quirks, bright smiles, and a belief that their life would be peaceful and bright. In the end, the sweet charm of innocence in their eyes faded after years of horror and loss etched into their hearts.

At that moment, Travis vowed he'll try to help the sweet little, Jaz and Nico, whose eyes were still bright and hearts that will always be good.

"Scoot over, kid," Travis said, shoving all depressing demigod thoughts out of his mind. "I'll teach how to play. Its simple. You choose a character as your player and you race against other people."

"Oo! Oo!" Jaz said. "I want to be this one!"

"Toad?" Travis said. "Okay, Little Toad, lets play."

She looked up at him with adoring eyes. "Okay, Big Toad."

His heart warmed at the little girl.

Needless to say, the both of them would stay up the entire night playing against and together with each other on Mario Kart. The whole night the thought of Jaz's adoring, childish eyes burned in Travis's mind.

It was sad, really, how quick those adoring eyes would fade.

* * *

DAY 4

Jaz woke up with a yawn. Sluggishly, she sat up in her stale milk scented sleeping bag, her right arm slung around Annette. The world was in a haze until she rubbed the drowsiness out of her eyes.

"Hey, Little Toad."

Jaz offered a half-asleep smile lazily in the direction of Travis's bunk.

"Hi, Big Toad."

She slowly pulled herself out of her cacoon of blankets, with his eyes burning into her side.

"What, Travis?" she said, cutting to the point as she rummaged for clothes from her backpack.

A mental list of the to-do things for day was forming in her day. Most of them included Mythomagic and Mario Kart.

Almost in a drunken manner, Jaz stumbled to her feet after grabbing a few articles of clothing and her toothbrush.

"Nico's waking up," she heard him say as her ears picked up the light stirring in Nico' sleeping bag.

"S-" she interupted herself with a yawn before trudging towards what she hoped to be the door. "So what?"

Then, softly, -so soft she barely heard it- he said, "Percy's back."

Jaz dropped her things. Her toothpaste clunked to floor and started to roll away but she didn't care.

Percy Jackson was back.

TRANSLATION: The quest was over.

TRANSLATION: Bianca was home.

Nico chose the best moment to wake up.

"Whas goin' on?" he slurred.

It took exactly five heartbeats for someone to reply.

Travis whispered, "They're back."

And somehow, Nico knew exactly what it meant.

They both did.

...

They stumbled through the snow, fumbling on their hats and gloves as they rushed to the litted Big House.

Jaz could feel her heart in her fingertips as she raced across Camp, as fast as her legs could carry her. She gasped for air, panting -from excitement or extertion -she didn't know really- as she approached the looming, blue building.

All the thoughts and things she yearned to tell her sister over the course of these five angonizing days whirled in her mind. They bursted into color and danced in her brain, chanting as Jaz sprinted across the pavilion and up the creaky steps of the Big House.

**_Bianca, I missed you. Bianca, I'm sorry. Bianca, it's okay. Bianca, look at this place! Bianca, I made a friend! Bianca, are you safe? Bianca, it's so much fun. Bianca, we had a snowball fight. Bianca, are you feeling okay? Bianca, I found a Mythomagic Card! Bianca, I love archery. Bianca, my days are going so well. Bianca, I'm so happy._**

Nico pushed the big wooden doors open. They burst into the room, scanning for their sister. Everyone was quiet. Everyone was tense. Everyone was sympathetic.

**_Bianca, where are you?_**

"Where's my sister?"

Nothing.

How can silence be so deafening?

That dream that night before, the one that seemed centuries ago, awoke in her heart. Dread filled her bones as panic seized her soul.

The wooden chair shrieked against the hard wood floor.

Percy Jackson stood up.

"I need to talk to you."

A little voice of sadness and sorrow -a little voice of sadness and sorrow _that understood_-whispered in the back of her mind, wailing in a short, silent scream.

_No_.

...

"I'm sorry. She died a hero."

...

_Six words. Six itty bity little words, meaningless alone but together destructive._

_Destructive as in giving you the feeling of twisting your gut, punching your stomach, bringing tears to your eyes, setting fire to your body, pulling out your hair, scratching your heart and shutting down your entire body. Destructive as in ruining your life. Ruining Jaz's life._

_First sentence: I'm sorry._

_Translation: These words are empty and mean absolutely nothing. I'm sorry I couldn't save your sister. I'm sorry I broke my promise and shattered your perfect image of me. I'm sorry I left your anchor to the world rotting in a stinking, junky desert for all eternity. Yeah, well, at least I'm sorry, right?_

_Second sentence: She died a hero._

_Translation: She died to save a worthless group of half-bloods, one who went off and died afterwards, the other stole her position in the Hunt, another that's drunk on coffee, and the last a good-for-nothing poser hero that breaks his promise. She died for a band of horrible people and two little trinkets laying forlornly in Percy's palm_.

...

Jaz and Nico stood, blankly, in the cold snow, staring at the little objects. The first one, the one for Nico, was the Hades Mythomagic action figure. Jaz already had one but it was so worn out, it looked like a blob of metal, unlike this one which was new and polished, glinting in the moonlight. The second one, Jaz's, was just a little metal bracelet. It looked so familiar. A short memory of her tugging on Bianca's sleeve to fawn over a piece of jewerly arouse in her mind. Both gifts, were new and shiny. Just as new as the scars on their hearts.

Jaz stared at the little bracelet in her hand. This little tiny bracelet. So small yet with so much meaning.

...

_Bianca di Angelo died for this object._

_Bianca di Angelo was dead._

...

"You promised you would protect her," Nico said.

...

_It funny how a few smiple words can change a person. Can burn a person._

_Sorrow that once filled her heart ignited into rage. All the sorrow that had weighed her heart and sou dowl -that had her choking on it- burned into anger. Percy Jackson. Percy 'Liar' Jackson. If it wasn't for him, Bianca wouldn't be in Mexico, her corspe being eaten by flies. If it wasn't for him, they'd be happy. If it wasn't for him, Bianca would be here with them._

_Breathing. Blinking. Laughing. Smiling. Talking._

_100 percent, wonderfully alive._

_If it wasn't for him._

...

"I tried. But Bianca gave herself up-" Percy said, his eyes full of hurt.

...

_Hurt? You don't even know what it is._

_This was proof. Proof that Percy was pining that blame on someone else to save his perfect image. Pinning it on Bianca._

_He was a monster._

_Dressing up as a dashing hero that slays monsters but in reality he's the real monster._

_He practically killed Bianca._

_The words sting herself and realization sunk in._

_He's the reason she's dead._

_He killed her._

_It'shisfaultIt'shisfault. She chanted._

_..._

_But in reality, she just needed someone to blame._

...

"You lied," Jaz screamed. It wasn't a loud scream, though. It was a silent scream. But still, the words burned her throat. "You promised us. She promised us right here," she stamped her foot against the pavilion to prove her point. Her foot sunk through the snow and slammed against the floor. With that force, the joint of her ankle wailed in pain, crumpling. But she couldn't feel it. She was numb with anger. "You promised you'd bring her home. You-" her voice cracked. "-promised."

Percy's eyes widened in -what?- sympathy? Sadness?

"Jaz, I-"

...

_Save your excuses._

...

"I shouldn't have trusted you!" Nico's voice broke.

...

_Once again, he said I instead of we. But drowning in grief and rage, Jaz didn't notice the little pronoun change._

...

"You lied to me!"

...

_Lied to us._

...

"My nightmares are right!"

...

_Our nightmares._

...

"Wait. What nightmares?"

Nico threw the little statue to the ground, its little dejected face staring at them as it clattered onto the pavilion floor.

...

_The muscles Jaz's arm tensed, getting ready to throw the little band on the ground, too, but the muscles in her heart denied the action. How could she throw away the last thing Bianca ever gave her? How could she throw away the last shred of proof her sister loved her?_

...

"I hate you!" Jaz yelled.

"She might be alive! I don't know for sure-"

"She's dead." Jaz's throat clogged with anger and sadness. Tears choked her eyes but she refused to let them down in front of her killer. In front of Percy. "Our dreams where right!"

Nico's entire body quavered with grief at her words. "I should've known it earlier. She's in the field of Asphodel, standing right before the judges right now, being evaluated. I can feel it."

...

_Jaz didn't care how Nico knew that. She didn't care about how he knew Bianca was in Asphodel with the undead judges, but she knew exactly how Nico knew she was dead. It didn't take much to wake up with your chest feeling hollow, a piece of your heart missing. It didn't take much to wake up in the morning and realize your sister was_

_D_

_E_

_A_

_D_

**_Dead._**

...

Percy's eyes doubled with shock. "What do mean, you can feel it?"

A hissing, grinding noise emerged from behind Percy. Over his shoulder, they saw four deathly white, life-free, skeletons.

"You're trying to kill us!"

...

_Nico finally used the right pronoun._

...

"You brought these...these things!"

"No!" Percy shouted. "I mean, yes, they followed me, but no! Guys, run! They can't be destroyed!"

...

_Anger, sadness, and forgiveness overcame her body, fighting for power. Sadness and forgiveness -definitely forgiveness- lost the battle, and anger came out to be the victor._

...

"I don't trust you!" Nico yelled.

"You already killed Bianca!" Jaz screamed. "Now, you want to kill us!"

Percy charged the skeletons, disarming and de-limbing them but they kept fighting.

"Run!" he shouted. "Get help!"

"No!"

They shouted it in unison. Jaz and Nico's voice mixed together, blending into a louder, more commanding tone.

...

_The rage she had kept at bay, exploded. It seared her bones and heated her blood. It tightened in her chest and roared. Screaming and pounding in her head, Jaz responded in the same manner._

_Jaz opened her mouth and screamed. A scream consisting one word._

...

"STOP!"

...

"NO! GO AWAY!"

This time Nico spoke.

...

_The unbelieveable happened._

...

Through half-lidded, angry eyes and hands crushing the sides of her head, Jaz saw so peels of waves radiating from her skin. Waves that looking like radio waves, but visible and dark as night.

It came out of her heart and out her pores and out to the world. As it pasted through the skeletons, they freezed, their swords still in mid-air. As the pasted through the marble pillars, the nearest one to Jaz cracked and collasped in a heap of dust and stones.

...

_It was Nico's turn in the show._

...

The ground rumbled. The Earth shook and groaned as it opened up a gigantic fissure. Percy rolled out if the way, just in the nick of time. The skeletons, frozen in their place by Jaz, fell into the pit of fire. With another rumble, it sealed, leaving a 20 foot wrinkle on the marble floor.

...

_Adrenaline coursed through her body. Rage clawed at her heart._

_Her heart twisting in her chest. Red spots danced in her vision. Her breath grew short from overexertion or anger, she didn't know._

_Rage swelled in her chest. _

_Skeletons, Bianca, Percy._

_Why, why, why!?_

...

"How did you-" Percy began.

"Shut up!" Jaz yelled. "Why aren't you dead!? You're a murder! A murder!" her voice broke and she hated that it sounded like she was on the edge of a sob, "You're a horrible, horrible person! I hate you! I hate you!"

Nico screamed at Percy, his words words similar to Jaz's.

_I hate you!_

_I wished you were dead!_

_You're not a hero!_

_Why didn't you save her!_

_I trusted you!_

_How could you!?_

Theses words swirled around Jaz and attacked her as she ran away. Ran away from Camp Half-Blood. From Percy. From her friends. From her life. And regrets.

...

_The last time you spoke to Bianca, you fought,__ a dark voice hissed in the back recess of her mind __You spoiled her memory!_

...

Cold, icy branches and leaves stood in her way but she tore through them, her leg soaring in a choppy, fast rhythm.

...

_Running away is the only thing you can do right. _

...

Her right hand grasped tight against Nico's like a lifeline.

She can't lose him. No, she _won't_ lose him!

...

_Because he's the only thing you have left._

...

As tears melted into shadows, her other hand held tight onto the little band Bianca had died for.

...

_Died because of you._

...

**_Bianca, I love you._**

...

_Then, why is she dead?_


	5. A Lost Hug

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN PERCY JACKSON AND THE OLYMPIANS.**

**Word Count: 6,880**

**AN: Hi guys. I'm sorry I haven't posted anything in a while. Things have been hectic. Anyways, this is mostly a filler chapter. Things are going to start heating up really soon. Read. Enjoy. Review. Be happy. :)**

**CHAPTER 6: A LOST HUG**

_In which the only thing Jaz wants is the only thing she can't have_

Prodding the fire with her stick, she sniffled and wiped her nose on the back of her sleeve.

Jaz squatted on the cold, mossy floor, the eerie silence breaking only to the crackling of the fire. Nico sat across from her, on the other side of the fire, staring at the fire, his dark eyes reflecting the licking, orange flames.

Somehow, after _that incident_ with _him_, the _son of Poseidon_, they stumbled on this place. Some sort of long hallway underneath Camp Half-Blood. Grateful of this solace, they sat down, miraculously built a fire, and did nothing else. At one point, they tried to communicate with each other, but with the first word out of their mouth, they dissolved into tears. The first word, the only word they were thinking about, was her name.

Bianca.

Jaz bit down on her lip, poking at the fire more viciously.

She closed her eyes. The only image she could see was her sister's beautiful face.

Bianca. Bianca. Bianca. Bianca.

The word was so _normal,_ flowing off her tongue. So normal yet it brought a pang -no, a _stab_ of hot anguish.

Bianca was only twelve years old.

It wasn't fair.

Tears scalded her eyelids.

Jaz reopened her eyes, a bead of water slipping down her face.

Bianca.

* * *

Jaz had no idea how long they had been sitting here. Minutes? Hours? She didn't know.

She shivered and pulled her jacket closer to her. It was so cold.

Jaz opened her mouth.

_Nico, we have to go forward. Bianca's gone and we have to move on. I know this all seems dark and endless but it's not. We have a life, a future. Let's get out of the hole and embrace the world. Bianca's death wasn't anybody's fault especially __our own. Please, Nico. Lets go._

She closed her mouth.

How could she give Nico that speech, those words of encouragement, if she didn't believe them herself?

* * *

Nico threw more sticks into the hungry flames.

It grew brighter.

Jaz leaned forward, trying to feel the warmth.

She felt nothing.

* * *

Jaz wondered by she didn't feel cold anymore.

She wondered what the painful emptiness in her stomach was.

She wondered why her skin felt so rough and dirty.

She wondered why her head was so light and empty yet her body wasn't.

She wondered how long she had been here.

She wondered what the gnawing feeling in her heart was.

* * *

Jaz lied on the dirty floor, letting the grime cover her.

Just rotting.

She imagined in a few weeks what she will look like. Dirty? Emaciated? Like a nightmare? Heck, she didn't even know what she looked like now.

She sat up, her hair scratching her face as she moved. Jaz brushed the strands out of her face.

"Nico?"

She didn't recognize voice. It was rough and hoarse, a sweet voice gone sour. With a start, she realized that sweet-to-sour voice was hers. Wasted away.

"What," he snapped.

Jaz didn't have the strength to feel hurt.

"Lets go," Jaz said.

Silence. It echoed to the room, its loud sound burning their ears. Wavering loudly and fragilely, like a pane a glass threatening to break with one touch. One word. Silence.

"Okay."

...

They stumbled down the shadowed corridor, the flames of the torch Nico carried illumiating the highlights of his haggard face.

Days ago, she wouldn't have recognized him. All traces of youth and joy was drained out of his face, leaving a pallid shell. Every knuckles and curve of his clenched fist shined out of his skinny hand. The bags of loss and hurt underneath his eyes never looked so dark before.

His mood was irritable and constantly changing. He was closed off and she haven't seen him smile in such a long time. Jaz always liked his smile. But it was gone.

The Nico she knew was gone.

...

And she was pretty sure she was, too.

...

They stumbled down the dark corridor.

"What's that?" Nico said, lowly. "There."

A glowing blue symbol pulsed on the wall. Jaz leaned forward tracing the outline of its shape with her grimy hand.

"It looks... Familiar." Jaz whispered, uncertainly. A faded memory tugged at the base of her skull. "So familar."

She could feel the slow recognition emitting from the dark outline of Nico. He shined the torch against it, as he leaned closer to inspect it. His eyebrow drew together as he stared at it.

"It looks like... It looks like.." Nico trailed off.

His hand rose, a single finger brushing the symbol. A bright, swirling light filled with all colors swallowed them up, taking them away. Far away.

* * *

Jaz clutched Nico's arm as they blindly walked the bright city, dazed.

The lights, the sounds, the feeling, everything, was absolutely breathtakingly terrifying after days of hollow silence in the blind dark. Masses of people crowded the packed streets. Almost every individual had some else with them. Someone to smile and laugh with.

It was Christmas Day after all.

Jaz glanced at Nico. He didn't look at her. But she did. She looked at him, really looked at him.

Lines drew his faces. A tightness pinched the corners of his mouth. His shoulder was hunched as is he carried the weight of the world. There was a excruciating agony in his eyes. Some one who had too much responsibility and loss.

Jaz's heart clenched painfully.

He looked like Bianca.

A sour bitterness entered her mouth. She wondered if it was her fault Bianca had to bear that burden. That look.

She decided she no longer liked Christmas.

But Jaz also wondered if she bore that look, too.

* * *

Jaz bit into the stale bread. The cheese had the texture of plastic.

It was the best they could afford. Jaz and Nico ate the sandwich silently, sitting on the dirty alley curb of... Los Angeles? Milwaukee? Nashville? No, San Fransisco. They had travelled to nearly all fifty states in the short period of a month.

They didn't really know what they were doing. They just have to stay in exsistence. No stay alive. They weren't living. Just surviving. They never discuss what their purpose was. Just travel from place to place from the maze. They didn't discuss anything really.

Jaz felt like a husk. A shell of a person walking. Not dead, not living. A dead girl living. She couldn't do anything. She couldn't even look at Nico in the eye. Every step towards any sort of recover hurt. Everything hurt. Because everything felt like _her_.

Jaz took a bite of the sandwhich. She tasted nothing.

* * *

In the dirty puddle, Jaz stared at her reflection.

The first thing she though was, 'Jeez. Wish those dieting girls saw me now.'

Her outer flesh seemed to have melted off, leaving behind someone even Jaz couldn't recognize. Pale skin with crazed fever in her cheeks. Light eyes with a dark ending. Long lips with little color. Long limbs, skinny body. Dangerous movements with a tired grace.

She was a bloody walking contridictary.

Jaz touched her hair. It used to be her pride and joy, How such a short amount of time and short touch could change somebody. It looked dead really. Dead as in someone made it into a rat's nest, buried a mummy in it, and let it rot. Let it rot along with her heart.

She was an angel that fell out of heaven's grace.

She looked at Nico, before iflinching and immediately looking away. He was the carbon copy, slightly skinny male version of her.

Facing the ground, Jaz steeled herself into wrangling Nico to get up and move along.

_Let's start our lives. Let's get over this. Let's go._

Instead, saying it more to the rock besides her feet than Nico, she whispered -rasped- to go to Minnesota.

* * *

They were somewhere in New York. It was Valentine's Day.

Jaz felt sick. She wanted to crawl in a deep, dark hole and never see the light of day again. Never see anything.

Walking down the streets, she saw something strange.

A boy with dark hair and nerdy glasses, waving his hands animatedly, as he spoke to the red headed girl next to him.

He looked so much like Nico.

The old Nico, of course.

She didn't even know where the new Nico was. He had mumbled to her this morning, he was going to go look around the city, and told her to buy something.

Not anything specific. Just something.

She didn't question him and they parted without another word. Without even acknowledging the other.

Jaz crept closer to the pair, her body half out of the shadows The boy painfully reminded her of what Nico could have been. What their future could have been.

Whispering to the boy, the girl gestured in her direction. No, she gestured at her.

Jaz nearly bursted into the Labyrinth's entrance when she saw theem drawing towards her. But her legs stayed still. A piece of her mind what achingly curious. So curious.

"Are you all right?" the girl said.

Jaz imagined what it must looked like. A dirty, half starved looking girl staring at them from the shadows.

"Yes," Jaz lied. "I'm alright."

"What are doing?" the boy questioned.

Oh, Jaz thought. These type of people.

Smart, good folk with lots of concern about random kids on the street. Mortals.

"I'm playing hide and seek." she whispered in a hushed, fake-excited voice. A background story was already forming in her head. They were easily pouring her mind like true memories. Practice makes perfect. "Don't tell my brother I'm here!"

"Oh?" the girl said, her green eyes unreadable. Smart, nosy people.

"Yep! He's probably looking for me down two blocks." she giggled. "I hid here three times already and he never picks up."

The boy said, "Shouldn't be closer to your parents?"

The fun part. Telling a truth in a mist of lies.

She leaned forward, dropping her voice to a hush. "I don't have parents."

Before they could respond she piped, "Goodbye!"

...

She followed them.

They intrigued her.

The boy and girl entered there large brookstone house, Jaz ghosting behind them. They disappeared through the door. Jaz waited a few moments before ghosting after them, skillfully pickpocketing.

Jaz reappeared in one of the bottom story rooms. More like a loft, actually. It was filled with all they junky, mortal voodoo magic stuff. Crystal balls, odd smells, tarot cards, the whole shebang. It didn't seem like a place two teenagers would live in.

She wandered around, staring at the mortal things. They were so oblivious.

Jaz stayed closer to the bookshelf. For a moment she could have swore she read the words "Greek" on one of the books. She peered at the title. Her dyslexia and the fine amount of dust on it didn't aid her.

Jaz hauled the book off the shelve, its light weight surprising her.

She blew the dust off.

She tried to decipher the jumble of words. She peeled open the cover, the old pages crinkling along with it. The book was worn and nearly yellow if age. The print was tiny, and moving as if there were little ants crawling in her vision.

Jaz shut her eyes for a moment. The book was going to give her a migraine.

Heavy footsteps shook the floors. Jaz's eyes snapped open. She could have sworn nobody opened the front door.

The dark form of a large figure loomed in the edge of her eyes.

She slipped out the window, running through the streets with the book in her hands.

...

Jaz sat on the curb of their temporary alleyway, closing her eyes for a moment. After the hours of reading, the letters of the page seemed to swirl off the page, and circle around her head, waving as if it was doing a belly dance. But she couldn't put the book down. She was fortunate to happen to come across it. The book was so small and thick, the pages never seeming to end. It spoke of spells and myths and lineage. From stories of gods to recipes for potions. Things so utterly mind baffling. How to come across nectar and ambrosia. How to find unicorns. How to make it rain. How to do the most impossible, mythical, magical things. But really, Jaz was interested by all, by it was only one thing that really caught her eye. The thing that would solve her problems. Their problems.

It was so precious. And she was so close.

Jaz opened her eyes.

The sun was already setting, the edges of it dipping underneath the horizon. It seemed to set the sky on fire. In an hour, it would settle into a dark blue, and along with it, Nico would come. He was always back by dark.

She opened the book again, the coat of dust floating off the pages like pieces gold in the dying sunlight. Jaz sighed. She better started reading.

...

Nico set his bag down, by his makeshift bed. He rummaged through the torn up bag and tossed her a green apple, his back still turned. Jaz caught it with one hand. It was slightly bruised. The other hand was still gripping the book. She bit into the apple, the crunch noise resonating the quiet walls of the abandoned factory.

She chewed in the silence, staring at Nico's turned back.

He was only wearing a T-shirt, jeans with holes, and beat up sneakers. It was winter.

"Why aren't you wearing a jacket?" Jaz asked abruptly.

Nico stopped pawing through his things. He glanced at her from over his shoulder. They haven't outright acknowledged each other for a long time.

"I'm not cold," he said finally.

She stated, "It's about 60 degrees in here."

"So what?"

"You should be cold."

He glared at her. "Are you?"

"No," she answered, truthfully. "But I'm wondering why you aren't so I can figure why I'm not. Not cold."

Nico sat down hard. "I guess since Bianca- Bianca-" he choked slightly,"-left, I haven't been warm or cold."

Jaz sat down by him. They stared at the wall. There were five long cracks in the plaster. She bit into the apple, chewing hard. It was slightly sweet. She wordlessly passed it to Nico. Jaz bet he looked surprised, but she didn't look. There was a spider crawling up the wall. Nico took the apple and bit into it. He chewed.

"What if," she said. "You can feel warm and cold again?"

He stared at her. She looked at him. His brown eyes seemed darker somehow.

"What do you mean?" he said, cautiously.

"What if Bianca could come back to life."

He stared at her.

"I found this-" she showed him the small tome, "book. It talks about all the magical thing in the Greek world. It says how you can bring someone back to life."

Jaz leafed through the pages and showed him the section. He took the book from her and stared at it. He wasn't reading. His eyes are only focused on the title of the segment.

"So Minos wasn't lying," he murmured.

Her eyebrows creased slightly.

"Who's Minos?"

Nico looked up, startled as if he didn't mean to let that little piece of information loose. Which he probably hadn't.

"He's, um, someone I met in the labyrinth."

It was Jaz's turn to stare blankly. Nico went on at her silence.

"He's a ghost," Nico added, "And he used to be the King of Crete. And it turns out I'm a son of Hades. The God of Dead and the King of the Underworld. Minos told me."

Jaz somehow doesn't feel surprised. It seemed to click together in her mind. Bianca and Nico being able to banish those skeletons. Nico's strange habits, and interest in the dead. It made sense. But it wasn't surprising.

She continued to stare at him. Out of all the things she could have said, the one question Jaz asked was:

"How come I never met him?"

Nico answered, frustratingly, "He only talks to me."

"No," Jaz said. She could feel a spark of anger. She rephrased her question. "What I meant was why didn't you ever tell me?"

Nico seems confused. Jaz wanted to wring his neck.

"Tell you what?"

She exploded.

"Tell me that you were a son of Hades! Tell me you know a ghost that frequently talks to you! Tell me you already had plans to bring Bianca came to life! Why didn't you tell me!?" she yelled.

For a few moments, Jaz's enraged breathing is the only sound and living thing in the room. The spider on the wall scurries back to its web.

"I don't know," Nico answered at last.

It's quiet. His excuse would have seemed lame, but she understood. She takes one look at Nico's expression and her anger dissipates. She positioned herself so she was facing him now. She grabbed the apple out of his hand and took a large bite.

"When did you first speak to Minos?"

Nico took back the apple, now warm. "About a month ago," he responded and bit into it, the crunching sound resonating through the room.

"How long did you know we can bring Bianca back?"

"Maybe two weeks."

Jaz stared at him, and grabbed the apple. She took the last bite of it. There was nothing left, but the core.

"I want to to talk to him."

...

It turned out Minos didn't like her. She didn't like him either so that was fine. Minos was shady, tricky, deceiving, and the only lead they had to getting Bianca back. Nico seemed to tolerated him, so Jaz tried to do the same. He seemed very interested in her nonexistent powers and demands to know every detail for them. He asked if she had any powers. She flushed and told him no. He made a very pompous, ghostly snort, and surveyed her before deemed her one of the children of a minor shadow-y god. Forget Nico, she wanted to wring his neck.

"You have to focus, demigod!" Minos spat out demigod like a curse, "Focus with your own shadow, mind, body, and soul! Enter the shadow! Become the shadow!"

"Easier said than done," Jaz grumbled quietly, but thankfully Minos was deaf in the midst of his speech.

"Shadow-traveling is a powerful but risky ability. If you don't focus-" he directed this part towards her, "-you'll lose your essence and be lost to the shadow void."

"I'm starting to think shadow traveling is just a myth," Nico said.

Minos rolled his eyes. He seemed to do that act more times than Jaz took breaths, and even more so when they opened their mouths.

"Every child of the Underworld has this power. It comes naturally. In time, of course," he added as Jaz rammed into a brick wall.

She saw fell backwards, stars burning behind her eyelids. Nico -or Nicos- hovered over him, three versions was him wavering.

Jaz giggled, "I didn't know you were a triplet."

* * *

On her first day in the Underworld, Jaz had woke up to the sound of weapons. Nico was digging through the pile of swords and arrows Minos had manifested from the armory yesterday, his hair falling over his eyes. He needed a haircut. Her own hair scratched the back of her neck. They both needed a haircut. Jaz sat up. In the fire light, the celestial bronze tinge had casted a caramel sheen on Nico as he rifled through them. He looked like he regained his natural olive tone, and looked nearly healthy. He stepped away. It was just a ruse.

Nico tested his grip on one of the swords.

"Feels nice," he said, "But the balance feels wrong."

"A fine observation," Minos said, appearing out of nowhere. Jaz tensed. He glanced at and scowled, "You, though, need to practice rising earlier. You sleep more heavily than the dead."

Jaz gave her own scowl.

She would have had more rest if Minos hadn't been lingering around. He was more prone to ghost around in the Underowrld than the Labyrinth. He seemed to be haunting them, with the way he floated around camp and through their own bodies. Every time he passed through Jaz, it felt like she was going on one of those loop-de-loop roller coaster. Her body flipping, head whirling, and horrible sensation of her stomach rising as she nearly skipping in the River Styx.

Nico, however, was the son of Hades, Prince of ghosts, so he had little qualms about Minos parading around camp. They quickly learned Nico felt ghostse felt human: solid. Minos didn't step on him and settled on her. She woke up several times in the night, feeling vertigo twisting her inside out.

"The reason," Minos said, "-you feel the wrongness of the blade is because it is not a real blade. Of course, you would know that if you were a real demigod. So inexperienced."

Nico bite the corner of his lower lip.

"Yes," he said, "That's why we should start practicing."

"Indeed," Minos answered with a smile as cold as the Artic.

...

Hours later, Jaz felt ready to collapse, her limbs weighting her down like lead.

"Okay!" she shouted and dropped her sword, "I yield."

Nico, who ran out of energy to look triumph, nodded wordlessly, breathing heavily through his mouth. He dropped his sword along side hers.

Minos floated up to them, brow creased with disappointment. Jaz felt herself deflated. She thought she did pretty well.

"You two did horribly," he said.

Nico winced as Minos clucked, "We have a lot of work to do."

* * *

Nico leaped in front of her and caught the swipe meant for Jaz. He slammed into the brick wall with sickening thud. The hellhound advanced towards him. Jaz shoved herself off the ground. She pulled an arrow out of her quiver, notching it on the bow. The hellhound grew closer to Nico. She aimed. It leaped. She let go.

Jaz's arrow flew true and sunk itself into its neck. It roared. The hellhound diverted his attention from him and back at Jaz. It lunged for her.

She knew she couldn't move in time.

She felt her heart slow down. She felt her breathing stop. She felt its breath nearing her face. She felt herself lose substance. She felt herself bleed into the nearby shadow.

There was a whirl of darkness, speed, and eerie sounds, then a flood of light. She was right behind the hellhound. Stumbling with a bleary mind, Jaz sunk her small dagger into its flank. It exploded into a spray of dust all over her.

The next thing she knew, Jaz was feeling the cement pressing against her back and Nico's incredulous face floating above her as her vision darkened.

She wakes up sixteen hours later to find that Nico can do the same thing, and that he's fast asleep besides her.

* * *

"A soul for a soul?" Jaz whispered.

They had set camp in the Labyrinth, pitching a little tent and a small campfire. They're dinner -cans of corn and tuna- had been long forgotten in exchange for the prospect of Bianca's new life.

"We're giving someone else up? That sounds-" she hesitated, "Wrong."

"A soft heart will get you no where in a demigod life, di Piante," Minos said, rolling his ghostly eyes. Jaz burned red, embarrassed, "Although we are sacrificing a soul that has cheated Death. One that should be dead."

"So we find a criminal or serial killer, and harvest them?" Nico asked. He looked at her and smiled, "I can't wait to see Bianca, again."

Jaz didn't answered, but instead giving him one of her own smiles. She didn't trust her voice at this moment.

"Foolish boy," Minos hissed, "Do you think a mere mortal's soul can match your sister's soul, a powerful demigod, daughter and Princess of Death and the Underworld realm? Not even close. We need someone else. A soul that has evaded afterlife for a very long time. Someone much more valuable. Much more."

Jaz sat forward.

"Who do you have in mind?" she asked.

A smile stretched across Minos's nearly transplant features, a gleam in his eyes.

"His name is Dedalaus."

* * *

Jaz stired her lemonade impatiently, the ice cubes bumping into one another as they swirled. She sighed and she shifted her legs, one over the other. She glanced at the clock and sighed again. She tapped her foot. She stopped. She looked at the clock.

She sighed.

"Will you stop it?" Nico snapped, "It's getting annoying."

"Well, the fact that Geryon left us in his-" she nudged bear head of the rug with her foot," -creepy living room is annoying me."

Nico rolled his eyes, "Let's go find him, then."

Jaz slide off the bumpy loveseat, and brushed her pants off, not wanting any Geryon germs on her. He was a monster. Both figuratively and literally. As a monster from Greek mythology, Jaz should have been more prepared for the sight of him. She expected a normal looking guy, with a tail or claws or an extra pair of heads. She should have been expecting two extra bodies, instead. He was gigantic, a hulking figure that would have been intimidating if it wasn't for his silly apron and nearly funny adjustment to his additional torsos.

Other than that, he was just plain evil. Thousands of animals -sacred animals- being slaughter for army meat. They were living in their own poop and filth because Geryon was too cold to help. Even though Jaz wasn't a vegetarian she could stand this. Survival of the fittest, she would say, but this was cruel. It made her sick with the urge to stab Geryon through all his nearly nonexistent three hearts and dancing over his dust.

Nico, on the other hand, gave her 'the look.' The _Get-Yourself-Together-Before-I-Stab-You_ look. After all, when they got the information they needed, Jaz would be more than happy to banish back to Tartarus.

For a monster with three hearts, he was horrible.

Nico got up and trailed out the doors, Jaz behind him.

He stopped and Jaz nearly toppling on him. She glared at his back.

He didn't notice.

And then, she noticced.

She stopped. She froze. Her stomach filled with acid. Her heart squeezed. Something hot took her over.

Jaz clutched her dagger, more for stabilization than anything else. She narrowed her eyes into slits. She bared her teeth.

"Percy," she snarled as her green-eyed enemy stumbled backwards.

...

Somehow, Jaz ended up tied up and gagged with the side of her face pressed into the dirt. She had a spectacular view of the ants hauling away a bread crumb.

Mere moments ago, Percy Jackson barreled into the house, Geryon close behind, roaring Percy's death warrant. She wanted both of them to die. Both of them were monsters.

She breathed in shallowly, her ribs expanded painfully into the ground. If she could just shadow travel out of her bonds. But her concentration and energy was frayed. Her bones weighted her down and her head spun and she was dizzy and she was humiliated and she was angry. She was so, so, so angry. Her stomach churned and her lungs burned. She had the insatiable urge to bawl her eyes out and tear Percy Jackson into bits.

Stupid sea spawn.

He didn't even think it was his fault. He was still clinging to the innocent card. Still pretending he wasn't the murder.

Bile rose up her throat just thinking Bianca hanging around the guy who killed her.

The door banged open.

Jaz look up.

Percy Jackson survived.

...

"You're saying that Bianca is helping you?" Jaz said, breaking in with incredulous and disbelief lacing her voice.

Nico yelled something indiscinct as Percy nodded solemnly. Something in her chest twisted and gasped.

_He isn't lying_, it whispered.

And it hurt. Why would Bianca do that? Help her murderer to prevent her siblings from talking to her.

It didn't make sense and she didn't want to know why. She made the mistake of glancing at Percy before whirling away, her stomach clenching. She closed her eyes.

Everytime she looked at him, she could see Bianca walking away from Jaz, her loose hair swaying as she told Nico she joined the Hunters. Everytime she met Percy Jackson's green eyes, she could only see Bianca leaving them to embrace her death.

Jaz exhaled quietly, her breath whistling as it left her mouth.

The prospect of seeing Bianca again made her shaky and indecisive. She felt like herself nearly a year ago.

She was a lot different then.

_Weak and dependent, _she thought, bitterly._ So weak and dependent her own sister got sick of her. She'd never go back to that._

She opened her eyes, and met Percy Jackson's sea-like eyes, her chin up.

"Then let's prove it. Tonight, we shall summon Bianca."

...

Jaz kept her eyes glued to the oncoming hordes of ghost, their nearly transparent bodies shimmering as they neared. They repeated this process so many times, over and over, and every time, she left with her hands bleeding from trying to collect the shards of her heart. Not once, had they even caught a glimpse of Bianca.

What really scared her was that she was started to forget her. Bit and pieces of Bianca were slowly wearing away from her memories. One morning, Jaz had woken up and realized she did not remember the sounds of Bianca's voice. Not remember where each of Bianca's freckles were or what her hair smelled like or what it felt like to be hugged by her.

Even in her own mind, Bianca was slowly leaving her.

Jaz blinked, not really realizing her eyes were getting wet. She widened them slightly to let the tears dry before they fell.

She, once again, skimmed the crowds of spirits. Bianca's presence wasn't there.

But something else was so recognizable after months of him trodden on Jaz during her sleep. She stepped in front of him, glaring, hoping the message would come across. It didn't. He tried to move forward, but Jaz raised her dagger, before immediately dropping it. She couldn't command ghosts like Nico and couldn't ward her mentor off without skewering him.

Jaz could feel the smugness vibrating off him, as he floated past her towards the Septic tank filled with root beer.

He knelt and drank.

He rose, this time, almost solid as a human. To her surprise, he gave Percy Jackson a wicked grin, malice coating his features.

"My, my, my," he hissed, "Sons of Poseidon haven't improved over the centuries. Have they?"

Nico snarled at Minos, commanding him to stay back. Minos replied, biting a response from almost all of Percy Jackson's group. The conversation roared on, Jaz taking mental notes of their hostility to Minos. Demigods don't seem to welcome ghosts. Or anyone related to ghosts. She scowled heavily. Finally, Nico waved his hand impatiently, dismissing Minos. He obliged albeit grudgingly.

He disappeared in a swirl of ghostly matter. It was suddenly so very quiet.

Jaz waited.

After ten minutes, she could feel her hope diminishing. Bianca wasn't coming. Something prickled at the base of her neck. She turned her head.

A silver spirit, glowing stronger and brighter than the rest, floated forward thIt rough the mills of ghosts. It's distinguishable figure seemed... Familiar. Something about it was painstakingly familiar. It ghosted towards Jaz. She lowered her dagger and let it pass, Percy following in her example.

It floated towards the tank of root beer. It knelt to drink as a spirit, and rose as Bianca di Angelo.

Jaz didn't know she dropped her dagger until she hear it clattering on the ground, but even that was unimportant. Everything seemed unimportant compared the ghostly body of her sister.

She's beautiful, Jaz thought.

She never realized how utterly beautiful her sister was. Not only did her dark Italian appearance show her beauty, but how she simply acted. Jaz had forgot how her hair fell into her eyes or how her green cap covered a small sliver of her face or even how Nico looked almost exactly like her.

She's beautiful, Jaz thought before something bitter slipped into her mouth, She _was_ beautiful.

With that thought, Jaz stumbled forward, desperate for her sister. For her sister's voice, her presence, her touch.

"Bianca!" she whispered, breathily, "Bianca!"

Bianca turned to her, her entire image flickering. Something cold wrapped around Jaz's heart. She realize Nico was right besides her until he spoke.

"Bianca!"

She regarded them with sadness, "Nico, Jaz. You've both gotten so tall."

Jaz nearly choked with tears.

Nico took up the position of words for her, expressing both their disbelief.

"Why didn't you answer me sooner?" he said, "We've been trying for months!"

"I was hoping you would give up."

Something inside Jaz shattered.

"Give up?" Jaz cried, "You're our sister! We'd never give up! Why would you want that!?"

"We're trying to save you," Nico said, his voice strained.

"You can't. Don't do this. Percy is right."

"No!" Jaz's voice came out as a strangled scream. "He's wrong! Don't listen to him!"

"He let you die! He's not your friend!"

Bianca's eyes were sad. She leaned forward to embrace them, but her form dissipated as it got close to the beat of a living heart. Bianca's misty figure washed over Jaz. It wasn't the warm hug she remembered. The warm hug she longed for. Her sister was so close yet so far away.

"You must listen to me," Bianca said. "Holding a grudge is dangerous for children of the Underworld. It is our fatal flaw. You have to forgive. You have to promise me this."

"I can't," Nico whispered. "Never."

"Percy has been worried about you both. He can help. I let him see what you were up to, hoping he would find you ."

"So it was you. You sent those Iris-messages," Percy said, the realization dawning to him.

"What!?" Jaz rasped, reeling back. "Why would you-"

"Why are you helping him and not me?" Nico broke in. "It's not fair!"

"You are closer to the truth now. It's not Percy you're mad at. It's me."

"No."

Jaz shook her head, frantically, her throat seemed to be caving in.

"Nico, you're mad because I left you to become a Hunter of Artemis. Jaz, you're mad I joined even though I knew you wouldn't. You're both mad because I died and left two alone. I'm sorry for that. I truly am. But you must overcome the anger. And stop blaming Percy for my choices. It will be your doom."

"She's right," Annabeth interuppted, giving Jaz time to blink the tears away. "Kronos is rising. He'll twist anyone and everyone he can to his cause."

"I don't care about Kronos. I just want my sister back."

A tear slipped down Jaz's face. It was cold.

"I need you, Bi," Jaz whispered. "I just need you to hold me again."

Biana's ghostly arms wrapped around herself. Her eyes were saddened. She shook her head.

"You can't have that."

"I'm the son of Hades! We can."

Jaz nodded, furiously.

"We have ways!" she yelled. "I- We- You can be brought back!"

"Don't try," Bianca refused. "Of you love me, don't..."

The ghosts around them stirred, their hushed murmurs rising with panic.

"Tartarus stirs," Bianca said. "Your power draws the attention of Kronos. The dead must return to the Underworld. It is not safe for us to remain."

"Wait. Please-"

"Goodbye, Jaz. Goodbye, Nico. I love you both. Remember what I said."

"Bianca!" Jaz cried as she lunged forward, but, like always, Bianca left before she could reach her.

Jaz stared at the empty place where Bianca was with horror, before shivering.

It was so cold.

...

When Jaz was nine, there was a thunderstorm over their boarding school. Lights flashed outside the window, long, white steaks blind in in the dark sky. Blinding, but radiant. It was so beautiful, it hurt. Of course, with something that bright, and that untainted had to be smothered by something. The thunder. It roared and striked and boomed, Jaz leaping out of her skin everytime she heard it. It was like an explosion trying to ruin the lighting's beauty.

She had confessed to Bianca about it, and, in turn, Bianca had covered Jaz's ears, so she could watch the lightning filter soundless and prettily across the inky background.

Jaz had once idly wondered if Bianca ever got tired of covering her ears for her.

She dismissed that thought before it even started to bloom.

Now, Jaz thought as she looked to the sky, she wondered if _when_ Bianca got tired of shielding them from the thunder. Shielding from the world. Shielding them so they could only see the light side of it.

Was it when they entered Westover Hall? Was it when they crashed her friend's party and nagged her to come back, ruining her chances of making friends? Or was it earlier than that when they entered their first boarding school? Or when they started playing in the Lotus Casino? Or even before that?

But if she was tired, why didn't she ever say anything?

_Selfish_, Jaz thought, She wasn't selfish in the beginning, but to leave so abruptly was selfish. Bianca had uncovered her hands from their ears just as the loudest bolt of thunder hit. So loud and they were so unprepared. _Selfish_. They had turned around, their ears bleeding, and when they did, she wasn't there. _Selfish_. She left them so unprepared, so weak, so scared. _Selfish_. She just left them. _Selfish_. No, she left Jaz. _Selfish_.

She left when Jaz needed her most.

_Selfish._

All Jaz wanted was one more warm hug from Bianca.

That's all she wanted before Bianca left. That's all she wanted after she left.

But, apparently, that was too much to ask.

Jaz didn't even know she was crying until the warmth of the rising sun started drying her tears.

...

"Are you sure you'll be alright?" Grover asked.

"Yeah," she said before wincing at how raspy her voice was.

Grover and Jaz stood slightly apart from the group. He seemed to always be extra concerned towards her wellbeing, for some reason. Whether it was out of pity or sends of responsibly as the one who found her, it unnerved her. The first time she met Grover, he was this goofy kid tripping over his feet trying to get to the enchiladas, but now he was this adult figure. She couldn't seem to shake the image of a gangly, social awkward kid out of her mind, and it was extra confusing seeing Grover be so mature. People really do grow up.

"Really?" Grover said skeptically.

"I'm fine, Grover!" Jaz snapped a bit too loud. "Stop coddling me! I'm okay."

A few people glanced over at them. Jaz flushed.

"I mean," she said in a softer voice, "Thank you, but I'm good."

Grover didn't seem to believe her, but also didn't know what to say, so he settled with nodding his head before stepping back to follow Percy. Nico backed off from Percy as Grover approached them, his long robe trailing behind him as it twisted with dirt and grass. Annabeth took his place in the tightly knit circle with Tyson by her side.

They stood together so confidently, so trusting in each other, Jaz remembered the first time she saw demigods in action.

Jaz's eyes followed the four as they left for the labyrinth. She shuddered, thinking of the long, cold passageways she spent roaming in despair, but it was nothing compared to the empty hallows of her heart that were caving in on her.


End file.
